Substrate worm (new and unknown to me)

[ROFEA]

What is this worm in the substrate of my shrimp tank?

I take things out but haven't added anything in years (except food/water).

 

[richiep]

Looks like sludge worm family

 

[ROFEA]

Looks like sludge worm family

Is it beneficial?

 

[richiep]

I've never known them to be aggressive to shrimp but being beneficial to the tank as a whole I'd be guessing, perhaps StarGirl can throw more light on it

 

[StarGirl]

How does it move? Does it stretch and pull like a earthworm? Inch like a inch worm?

Detritus worms are just that, they eat detritus. You can remove them when you see them. Your substrate probably needs some sludge cleaning.

 

[ROFEA]

How does it move? Does it stretch and pull like a earthworm? Inch like a inch worm?

Detritus worms are just that, they eat detritus. You can remove them when you see them. Your substrate probably needs some sludge cleaning.

My substrate does need cleaning, I have tons of seed shrimp and difficulty cleaning sand. It is more earthworm like I think, I couldn't get a video to upload.

 

[Mindelo]

if it is detritus worm, then you are likely overfeeding your tank, which is creating the excess detritus.
you can solve this by reducing the amount of feeding
because they feed on detritus, if there's no detritus for them to feed they will die.
they are not harmful, but not pleasant to see.

 

[ROFEA]

I'll leave it alone if it's not harmful. I just sucked up some substrate though the shrimp babies seem to be everywhere I aim. I'm going to cut back on feeding.

 

[StarGirl]

You cant direct upload videos. You have to post it to a video streaming service like Youtube or something then copy and paste the link here.

 

[PeterFishKeepin]

looks very much like an earthworm to me, the pinkness to it and its size. thats my thought, i found an earthworm just yesterday and stuck it on a fishing hook (i live next to a river) and caught a nice 35cm bream (an australian species of brackish/saltwater fish)