Feather Duster Worm

[ltkenbo]

So I was looking at my tank tonight and saw something poking out of the sand:

I thought I had seen another one recently somewhere else so I reached in the sand to grabbed it and pulled it out and realized it was pretty long:

I think it's a feather duster worm, I could see the little black thing moving around inside the tube. I tried to put it back in the sand but it kind of bent the top of the tube, I felt bad, I hope this doesn't kill it or anything. Anyways, any opinions, I have seen a feather duster in my tank but it's inside a hole in a live rock attached to the rock.

 

[mng777777]

that's not a feather duster, it's just a regular old tube worm. They will pop up from your sand. They are a normal part of your CUC. You probably have lots of them and just don't know it.

 

[ltkenbo]

What exactly do they eat?

 

[mng777777]

They send out tentacles and grab particles from the water column. They'll take bits of left over fish food, as well as waste that's suspended in the water and probably algae spores, and/or pods or anything else that manages to get caught on their tentacles. They find the food they need.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

if it does what mng describes its called a spaghetti worm. almost looks like a peanut worm in the pic though.

 

[mng777777]

right the spaghetties tentacles are much longer than peanuts. Either way, it's a worm that you shouldn't worry about. It will find food as it needs and wont harm the tank in any way