An unidentified worm seems to be eating my silicone?

[exnisstech]

Maybe this has been the cause of the red sea seam failures and there is nothing wrong with the stands or tanks lol darn emojis not working

 

[PeterEde]

I was left to look after a friends 5ft tank once. I walked in one day and half the water was on the floor and a stream of water coming from a pin hole in the silicone.
It was put down to a worm. Good reason to not have black silicone so you can see the little critters doing it

 

[shorty6049]

There's a YouTube video of a worm caught in the act:

Worm Eating Through Silicone

wow, that thing was determined! But yeah, that hole where the water started squirting out of looks very familiar (the trail up to the hole specifically) . I take it you never really resolved the issue, just started a new tank in the end?

 

[shorty6049]

Maybe this has been the cause of the red sea seam failures and there is nothing wrong with the stands or tanks lol darn emojis not working

Guess I wouldn't be shocked to hear that. I'm in a red sea facebook group becuase there are a lot of active users who discuss general aquarium topics too and those people are CONSTANTLY talking about the seam issues. I'd be interested to see what they're dealing with up close in terms of leaks

 

[Tamberav]

Red Sea Silicone just tastes better to worms is all..

In all seriousness, there are pics of stands not supporting the center (gaps forming) and entire front panels busting off across the entire seam...

not a worm


I wonder if they can eat through acrylic?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its a eunicid worm and eats detritus and would not eat silicone- Likely coincidence you saw him and first noticed silicone which seems to hit by algae scraper.

 

[Azyrul]

Now that make me wonder if that's what happened to my tank... It was fine for almost 6 years and then one day started to leak from the bottom.

There will be probably many people that "blame" these worms for bad sealed tanks but I had a deep sand bed. Sure loved to watch all the life that was in there.

God, I love pistol shrimp and gobies but I think my next tank will be bare bottom...

Gonna keep track of this thread, I hope it's a late April fool joke.

 

[shorty6049]

Its a eunicid worm and eats detritus and would not eat silicone- Likely coincidence you saw him and first noticed silicone which seems to hit by algae scraper.

While that's definitely -possible- I've tried to be SUUUUUUUPER careful with this tank when it comes to algae scraping for this precise reason actually. The last time this happened a lot of people said that it was probably my algae scraper or bad seals so I made it a point to never touch the seals with the scraper. I've likely accidentally touched them occasionally but never anything aggressive.

I'm going to try to get more footage of this thing and/or any other potential evidence tonight. Im not going to sit here and claim I know 100% what did or didn't happen but I still have a strong inkling this is more than a seal issue

 

[vetteguy53081]

While that's definitely -possible- I've tried to be SUUUUUUUPER careful with this tank when it comes to algae scraping for this precise reason actually. The last time this happened a lot of people said that it was probably my algae scraper or bad seals so I made it a point to never touch the seals with the scraper. I've likely accidentally touched them occasionally but never anything aggressive.

I'm going to try to get more footage of this thing and/or any other potential evidence tonight. Im not going to sit here and claim I know 100% what did or didn't happen but I still have a strong inkling this is more than a seal issue

They have appendages and Not teeth and find it bizarre that they would be capable.

 

[Purkey Pets]

wow, that thing was determined! But yeah, that hole where the water started squirting out of looks very familiar (the trail up to the hole specifically) . I take it you never really resolved the issue, just started a new tank in the end?

I did not fix the tank, was worried about a future leak so I moved on to a new system.

It was 100% caused by a creature of some sort. That video isn't mine, but confirmed what was hard to believe. Mine tunneled through silicone, foam, paint and wood. No sign of the worm/creature that caused it.

I've been worried ever since then, because I reused the rock from that tank. Now it's fresh in my mind again and will probably induce a nightmare sometime soon

 

[shorty6049]

They have appendages and Not teeth and find it bizarre that they would be capable.

Yeah, im pretty confused myself... I did find this article that seems to suggest burrowing through plastics is possible...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah, im pretty confused myself... I did find this article that seems to suggest burrowing through plastics is possible...

Same applies to salmon and many wild caught fish but this is micro-plastics from waste and dumping in waters.

 

[shorty6049]

Same applies to salmon and many wild caught fish but this is micro-plastics from waste and dumping in waters.

This specific study was actually talking about the worms chewing through foam buoys and their ability (though I'm not exactly sure if this is supposed to be a GOOD thing?) to convert plastics to microplastics through the process of eating them. Obviously this is Styrofoam and not silicone, but it at least establishes that some worms have the ability to "chew" through or bore into soft non-organic materials like this?

From the article:

Concerned about the effects of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems, scientists from the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology collected eight discarded buoys that were adrift off the Korean coast. The plastic buoys were made out of expanded polystyrene, better known as styrofoam, and the researchers wanted to see if anything was living on them.

Led by environmental chemist Sang Hee Hong, the team found all sorts of organisms on the surface of the buoys, from seaweed and sea squirts to crabs. But when they took the buoys apart, they were surprised to find marine worms living inside. Buried deep within the buoys, polychaetes were chowing down on plastic.

In the lab, Hee Hong and the other scientists put 10 of the worms in seawater-filled beakers and collected their feces. Over the next three days, the polychaetes passed a total of 1,306 pieces of styrofoam, ranging in size from 0.2 to 3.8 millimeters. One particularly prodigious worm pooped out 482 pieces of microplastic.

To get a better sense of how effective these worms are at rendering plastic into microplastic, the scientists placed an adult and a juvenile in separate containers with styrofoam blocks. Within a few days, the worms started to burrow. Over the next week, the adult pooped out 11,200 microplastic particles, while the juvenile produced 2,740—an average of 1,600 and 390 particles per day respectively.

 

[shorty6049]

Okay everyone, Sorry, I took a break from this issue yesterday but I'm back with 1080P video and also a photo for good measure.

For size reference again, the hole in this video/photo is approximately 3mm across at the widest point.

Something else to mention, I dropped some frozen mysis in the tank afterwards and a fair number of bristle worms appeared on the surface and began grazing on it... as far as I can tell, they all look like the standard worms you see in most tanks. pale pinkish body, dark streak toward the back end (trying to avoid assuming its black silicone because it could just be whatever else they're eating, little bristles down the sides ). Not 100% sure if this specific worm came up to eat as well, but I'm starting to suspect that this issue may just be multiple of the same type of worm causing these problems rather than one specific worm but I can't really be sure.

Anyway, I've attached the photo and Video 1 and Video 2

 

[lwien01]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice here... I have had some mysterious leaks form in my tank. The first time it happened was a couple of years ago. The way the leaks formed, it almost looked as though something had eaten a trail through the silicone between the pieces of glass on the bottom of my tank. These leaks always appeared under the sand and occasionally would appear not as trails down through the seam (and out the bottom of the tank where water would start dripping) but as a hole with a few grains of sand in it that looked as though something had tunneled through the silicone horizontally and stopped when it hit glass.

Had no idea what to make of this, the only logical conclusion was some kind of worm, but I've been told by multiple people in multiple groups that this isn't possible... "there's no worm that eats silicone. your tank is probably not level or something" was a common theme.

Fast forward, I couldn't keep the leaks from forming, even after pumping the originals full of silicone again. I finally broke down and bought a new tank and replaced everything except for one or two rocks .

Now here I am about 2 yrs later and my tank is leaking again and when I plug the leaks, new holes appear. I finally caught what I think is causing my issues on video... Anyone know what exactly this thing is? My first thought was a bobbit worm , but mainly just because I don't know of many other worms aside from bristle worms...? for size reference, this video was filmed with a 180mm macro lens and the length of visible worm in the video is appoximately 1-2mm . I've definitely had larger bristle worms than this in my tank.

Oh, and just ignore this cheery music... I forgot I'd added it before uploading... lol

That is a BOBBIT WORM! Small now but will destroy your tank in time. Just zoomed up on the mouth parts and observation. they are very quick. You need to capture it. Use a trap baited with food or try and capture it at night time when the worm is out of its burrow.
good luck

 

[brandon429]

anytime someone claims to report the very first event seen in a web forum I think that warrants scrutiny and tight proof

who here has ever seen this in a web forum before

is there a link you posted in, where we could see that seen-it-before mention (googling the subject to report here doesn't count=seen this before now)

I've been posting for 22 straight years, I made it through the eco aqualizer event of 2002

and i've never seen silicone eaten by a worm

for example

there's not a video of a worm eating this silicone or anyone's tank on this site. on the web I can understand how a worm was near a seam break and it looks really indicative

 

[Troylee]

Okay everyone, Sorry, I took a break from this issue yesterday but I'm back with 1080P video and also a photo for good measure.

For size reference again, the hole in this video/photo is approximately 3mm across at the widest point.

Something else to mention, I dropped some frozen mysis in the tank afterwards and a fair number of bristle worms appeared on the surface and began grazing on it... as far as I can tell, they all look like the standard worms you see in most tanks. pale pinkish body, dark streak toward the back end (trying to avoid assuming its black silicone because it could just be whatever else they're eating, little bristles down the sides ). Not 100% sure if this specific worm came up to eat as well, but I'm starting to suspect that this issue may just be multiple of the same type of worm causing these problems rather than one specific worm but I can't really be sure.

Anyway, I've attached the photo and Video 1 and Video 2

If that is the case im not sure why you haven’t took a net and scooped the sand and worm out yet? Seems easy to get lol.. why even question it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay everyone, Sorry, I took a break from this issue yesterday but I'm back with 1080P video and also a photo for good measure.

For size reference again, the hole in this video/photo is approximately 3mm across at the widest point.

Something else to mention, I dropped some frozen mysis in the tank afterwards and a fair number of bristle worms appeared on the surface and began grazing on it... as far as I can tell, they all look like the standard worms you see in most tanks. pale pinkish body, dark streak toward the back end (trying to avoid assuming its black silicone because it could just be whatever else they're eating, little bristles down the sides ). Not 100% sure if this specific worm came up to eat as well, but I'm starting to suspect that this issue may just be multiple of the same type of worm causing these problems rather than one specific worm but I can't really be sure.

Anyway, I've attached the photo and Video 1 and Video 2

Bobbit sure looks like it is eating through, hmmm

 

[tautog83]

honestly, what are you waiting for? who cares what's happenign at this point and whats causing it, get it out before the panel blows out lol you can have a discussion as the new tank is cycling as you burn the rocks and everything in there lol

 

[zdrc]

I'm surprised by people denying that this is possible. The video evidence is quite clear, that worm is burrowing through the silicone. Eunice worms can burrow through rock. Why wouldn't they be able to burrow through silicone? I'd pull that sucker out of there in a heartbeat.