Worms Are Eating My Dinoflagellates

chefjpaul · Jun 24, 2017

Like diversity,
Yesterday, I just received an order of macros for my fuge frrom:
https://www.live-plants.com/

WOW!
Straight from the sea.
I used to live in SD, but now NYC and have no boat, unlike @Paul B, who still hasn't sent me an invite to go collecting. [emoji4]

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 24, 2017

chefjpaul said:
Like diversity,
Yesterday, I just received an order of macros for my fuge frrom:
https://www.live-plants.com/

WOW!
Straight from the sea.
I used to live in SD, but now NYC and have no boat, unlike @Paul B, who still hasn't sent me an invite to go collecting. [emoji4]

Pretty sure he'd send you home with a pocket full if you asked.
And cooked.

Pmj · Jun 24, 2017

Hmm, I live 15 min from the ocean, maybe I should get some NSW for dinos.

chefjpaul · Jun 24, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Pretty sure he'd send you home with a pocket full if you asked.
And cooked.

I'd definitely have to do the cooking[emoji38]

taricha · Jun 25, 2017

NCreefguy said:
Does anyone else know anything about these worms? I can't find a definite answer as to what they are except maybe nematode or ciliate.(and both might be wrong)

Great pics!
These are nematodes, as you suggested. Most everyone has these in their system. They have never eaten any of my Dinos, but your Dinos are much smaller, so it could be possible.

You might find this post on ciliates eating Dinos interesting

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?posts/3837391/

Your Dinos are unusual. Sending you a PM

madweazl · Jun 25, 2017

I miss easy access to Scripps water (now living in VA). Sure made life easy.

Scott.h · Jun 25, 2017

@saltyfilmfolks Hey there Billy Mays, were really going to have to work on your marketing strategy with tank water.

Katrina71 · Jun 25, 2017

Scott.h said:
@saltyfilmfolks Hey there Billy Mays, were really going to have to work on your marketing strategy with tank water.

I can't wait to see the infomercial.

NCreefguy · Jun 25, 2017

taricha said:
Great pics!
These are nematodes, as you suggested. Most everyone has these in their system. They have never eaten any of my Dinos, but your Dinos are much smaller, so it could be possible.

You might find this post on ciliates eating Dinos interesting

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?posts/3837391/

Your Dinos are unusual. Sending you a PM

Everyone already has these? Well there goes my cornering of the market.

Great video! That's what I've seen the worms in my tank doing only in less numbers than the video. I've got two types of dinos or at least I had two at one time.
My dinos being unusual doesn't sound very promising but it does sound like my luck. Jumping over to your PM now.

jason2459 · Jun 26, 2017

That is a nematode. Hate to burst the bubble but they aren't eating the dinos. At least I highly doubt it. I would love to see one do it though. They have needle like stylets that jet out of its "mouth" and suck out nutrients usually from algae.

I have seen them in pretty much every sample I've taken from my aquarium.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/our-tanks-biology-up-close.239838/

NCreefguy · Jun 26, 2017

jason2459 said:
That is a nematode. Hate to burst the bubble but they aren't eating the dinos. At least I highly doubt it. I would love to see one do it though. They have needle like stylets that jet out of its "mouth" and suck out nutrients usually from algae.

I have seen them in pretty much every sample I've taken from my aquarium.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/our-tanks-biology-up-close.239838/

I'm going to try to get some more samples tomorrow and see if I can catch them eating again(or poking at the dinos maybe?). I don't have many nematodes in the samples that I've taken up until recently so I was wondering how or where they came from all of a sudden. They seem to poke at the larger Amphidinium but honestly look like they are eating the small dinos that we're still trying to identify.

Hans-Werner · Jun 28, 2017

This worm is a nematode. I also found them inspecting sediment from my tanks with a microscope from time to time. I found nematodes looking exactly the same but didn´t know they are eating dinoflagellates. So maybe every tank with live rock has them?

CloudReefer · Mar 5, 2024

Hans-Werner said:
This worm is a nematode. I also found them inspecting sediment from my tanks with a microscope from time to time. I found nematodes looking exactly the same but didn´t know they are eating dinoflagellates. So maybe every tank with live rock has them?

I have some pics and videos of nematodes with dinos in their guts...