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Today at work, the manager was removing a whole bunch of extra contortion vals from a display tank (those things multiply faster than guppies). They were all in a bucket, and then he gave it to me so I could plant them in another tank to be sold.

As I was taking some of them out of the bucket, I noticed a large worm hiding in the roots. It was blood red, and about 6" long. I'm sure it was a nematode (roundworm), as it did not have any segments or a flattened body. Its width was about that of a tooth pick. I didn't see any mouthparts or sucking discs on its "head", which would indicate that it was a parasite, so I just put it in the fish tank to see if the fish would eat it. A couple large rainbowfish nibbled at it, but they did not eat it. Instead, it just floated down to the bottom and crawled into the gravel.

I kept planting the vals, and when I was done I noticed that there was an enormous worm at the bottom of the bucket. It was about a foot long when it was contracted and at least 18" long when extended. It was the largest roundworm I had ever seen.

Does anybody know what it could be? Here is a brief overview of their characteristics:

- Nematode
- Blood red color
- Up to 18" long
- Fish do not eat it
- Width of a toothpick when contracted
- Does not appear to be parasitic
- Lives in the gravel

Since they did not appear to be harming anything, I placed them in the tanks so they could go back down into the gravel. I know most substrate-dwelling worms are just scavengers, and maybe as they crawl through the gravel they will let some water flow around the plant roots, which would be good.

I took a picture of the largest worm, and it's only partially extended so it's about 15" long. I put a ballpoint pen next to it for comparison. Sorry the photo is so crappy, I had to take it with my phone.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

WOW, that is the biggest one I have ever seen. I have never seen them larger than about 3-4 inches. That is a monster. Do you have an University near you? Maybe there is someone in the science department there, that might be interested in that guy. I used to catch the giant bristle/fire worms when SCUBA diving, for one of the professors at the university near me here.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Do you live near a power plant? I'm betting that if you do, it's pleco poop that has been brought to life by the radiation

that is just nasty!! cool but still....

And that's coming from someone that walks around with his finger up his nose, lol

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There is always a bigger fish...

Just kind of searching around I found this, tho that is probably not it, but worth looking at.

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/the_big_red_worm.htm


EDIT: Aha - we're getting close.

Look at this on Aquatic Worms. I took the idea from reading the above link.

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/aquatic_worm.htm

The only problem is that you said yours had no segments. Are you sure they are not there if you look closely with a magnifying glass (if you still have it)? The one shown in the pic doesn't appear to have segments, yet they say aquatic worms do.

Is that a head we see in the pic (like one side coming to the shape of a tear drop? That could be another clue.

Goodness, we love a mystery, don't we



EDIT 2: I tried looking under Aquatic Nematode, but did not find any further pics or info other than the fact that there are tens of thousands of different types, most of which are microscopic. There are larger ones, but they highlighted those as being saltwater. That's not to say we don't have them in freshwater, its just that there isn't an abundance of info on the web that I could find.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Jan-2005 12:36

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Jan-2005 12:39

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Jan-2005 12:48

Thanks for the links, Cory Di!

In the display tank, there are breeding pairs of discus, and they are fed tubifex worms every day. I was thinking that maybe some of them made it into the gravel and were living there, but these giant worms I found were red and much, much bigger. Their body shape did look very similar to a giant tubifex worm, however.

I was thinking they might be the "Big Red Worms", but that link says they only grow to 15cm long...

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

it isnt tubifex, i have tubifex in my newts tank that has been living there for probably 5 years now, and htey are still very small (1 1/2"

tubifex live in sludge, vict...