# Bristle worm



## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

I noticed a centipede looking thing I my tank last night. I haven't seen it before so presume it comes out when the lights dim down. It's about 1/2 to 1 inch long, and just wonders over the bog wood. I googled it and found out about bristle worms. I don't know if they are good or bad and don't know whether to remove it from the tank or not. If I can get a good shot I'll take a pic. It's a new tank, about a week old  with live plants. 

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## dw1305 (21 Apr 2017)

Hi all, 





ralphthemouth said:


> I noticed a centipede looking thing I my tank last night. I haven't seen it before so presume it comes out when the lights dim down. It's about 1/2 to 1 inch long, and just wonders over the bog wood. I googled it and found out about bristle worms. I don't know if they are good or bad and don't know whether to remove it from the tank or not. If I can get a good shot I'll take a pic. It's a new tank, about a week old  with live plants.


Nothing to worry about. 

It sounds like an _<"Asellus">. _They are crustaceans (like shrimps). 

cheers Darrel


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## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

No. It's not one of those weird things lol. It's more wormy/centipedey looking. 

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## dw1305 (21 Apr 2017)

Hi all,





ralphthemouth said:


> It's more wormy/centipedey looking.


This does sound interesting, picture required.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (21 Apr 2017)

Freshwater paddleworm



 

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/r...-legs2/segmented-worms/freshwater-paddleworms


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## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

That looks promising! 

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## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

So He/She came out tonight.


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## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

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## ralphthemouth (21 Apr 2017)

Grainy video because I had to zoom in on a phone cam.

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## Fiske (22 Apr 2017)

It does look like some kind of millipede. Some should be aquatic/semiaquatic. It looks a lot like this


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## zozo (22 Apr 2017)

That indeed definitively not a worm..  Very interesting, probably housed in the wood from before it was submersed.



> ecology and morphological adaptations Cryptocorypha ornata (Attems 1938) Acknowledgements References. Only very few millipedes, representing the Polydesmidae, Pyrgodesmidae, Bla-niulidae,Julidae and Siphonotidae from temperate and/or tropical regions, have been reported or suspected to temporarily enter water bodies and feed on fine-grained organic particles in water-films or watercourses submersion tolerance of a  few hours/days or the submergence resistance of weeks/months is enabled, in most cases, by plastron respiration using cuticular structures (spiracles with microtrichia) or cuticular secretions.
> 
> *Only two polydesmidan species, however, are presently known to have an amphibious mode of life: *(1) subadults and adults of the troglobite Serradium semiaquaticum Enghoff et al. 1997 (Polydesmidae), showing modified mouthparts (hair-shaped teeth of pectinate lamel-lae; Fig. 1) and hydrophobic microtrichia in the spiracles, can remain up to 4 weeks in subterranean water bodies of North Italian caves (Ams et al. 1997, ENGHOFF et al. 1997); (2) advanced juvenile stages and subadults of Gonographis adisiHoffman 1985 (Pyrgodesmidae) pass the annual flood period of 5-7 months duration submerged on tree trunks in blackwater inundation forests of the Negro River, Central Amazonia, grazing on algae. Due to a  cerotegument (Fig. 2) which covers the spiracles, their submergence resistance reaches 11 months.



http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03946975.1998.10539372

Maybe you found a new sp. to add to the list of the 2 known.


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## ralphthemouth (22 Apr 2017)

My wife thinks she's going to find it growing 18 feet and climbing out of the tank at night to roam the house and eat her. .....   .

So it's possible it'll only live for a few months then. I guess I'll leave it in for a while then and see what happens. 

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## zozo (22 Apr 2017)

Then show here this to have some more fun..


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## Fiske (22 Apr 2017)

zozo said:


> Very interesting, probably housed in the wood from before it was submersed.



I'd think so too.


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## dw1305 (24 Apr 2017)

Hi all, 
Definitely a Millipede (Myriapoda, Diplopoda) you can see the two pairs of legs per segment. 

I didn't know that semi-aquatic Millipedes existed, but apparently _Aporodesminus wallacei_ has managed to find its way to Tahiti and St. Helena etc., presumably via dead wood, so would seem a very likely candidate.  

cheers Darrel


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