Are large worms in sand bed a problem?

[bgdiving]

Just observed a 12 inch section of a segmented worm working its way through my deep sand bed (very old crushed coral being upgraded with fine grain araganite sand). I never did see the front of the worm but after a few inches of worm moved by, did see the back end of it, would guess it to be about 14 to 18 inches long and about the diameter of a pencil. It did NOT look like a brissle worm, it looked more like a long night crawler. I have added nothing to this tank in over 6 months that he could have hitch hiked in on so he's been in there for a while. He's not bothering the corals. My question is: what's the likely hood he'd be detrimental to the functioning of my deep sand bed? Several of my other tanks have various sized worms including some large worms but none approaching the size of this one.

 

[davelin315]

Don't worry about it. You'll find all different kinds of worms at home in your sand bed. And some of them will be a few feet long looking like night crawlers (probably a bristle worm, though, it'll look different when it's under the sand).

 

[Midland]

Well, bristle's are detrivores... So, if he's grown this large in your tank, there's obviously adequate "stuff" for him to feed on. I'd consider a worm that size a very beneficial tank worker!

 

[raptor1]

The worm will keep your sand nice and clean!You probably have other criters in your bed,you have not seen!

 

[bgdiving]

I have all kinds of worms and other critters in this tank, but was concerned if this guy might be destroying some of the smaller critters or wondereing if his burrowing would be disturbing the sand bed too much for propper denitrification. When I noticed him he had been worming his way along the front glass making contact with the front glass 75% of the the time so I was able to see a worm track that was baskily 4 ft long, it looked more like a pipe line than a worm burrow, but it later collasped or filled in with some of the newer fine grain araganite I've been adding reacently.