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I’d rather wait till it makes a hole and my tank starts leaking to prove a point.
An unidentified worm seems to be eating my silicone?
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It is a Eunice sp. worm, but not necessarily a bobbit - there are a few others (such as Eunice valens) that look similar to the bobbit that are likely less predatory (though they may still be predatory, there's a not much info on their diets that I can find other than that some of them are omnivorous). Regardless, silicone eating aside, it's probably not a worm you want in your tank (though it could be a cool, acrylic tank/glass with armored seams tank inhabitant).
With regards to the worm burrowing through silicone, I actually have seen this a couple of times before (see the quote below) - it is rare, but it seems it does happen (many worms are definitely capable of going through silicone, but few ever seem to do so):
With regards to the worm burrowing through silicone, I actually have seen this a couple of times before (see the quote below) - it is rare, but it seems it does happen (many worms are definitely capable of going through silicone, but few ever seem to do so):
Edit: just to add, as others have mentioned, it's entirely possible that the worm is just exploring/expanding an already existent defect in the silicone (i.e. it might not be causing the hole, just finding it and possibly adding to it).Admittedly, my first instinct was something like ants too, but doing a little research, there might be something to the whole worm in the tank thing (the link has a video and picture, but you have to log in to view the picture):
The worm in the video is tiny, but if you watch the line seemingly in the glass, you'll notice it move a little before the water starts spurting out.
Bristle Worm Eating Through My Aquarium Silicone Seals
Discovered a leak on my aquarium today. Had a look and found a small hole that looked like a burrow through the front glass silicon seal. At first, I thought I may have damaged it due to moving and levelling the aquarium last week. I suddenly noticed an increase in water flow from a few drips...
Not saying it's confirmed that it's a worm, but it seems it could be a possibility.
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To me it looks like the seem was already failing there, can see sand in the seem prior to the worm. My guess is it's exploiting a hole that was already there.
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They're just so fast. I might try trapping as many as I can though. I have no clue how many worms in my tank may be of the same type though. All the ones that came to the surface to eat the mysis just looked like every other bristle worm I've ever seen. Hate to get rid of all my bristle worms becuase they're beneficial for the most part, but if it comes down to it, I may have to try (or tear down the tank and start fresh with new rock and sand)
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Get a large net and scoop that area with the problem worm… sand and all! Eliminate the threat and don’t worry about the rest..
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Yeah... for me the most direct evidence is how the hole its in looks jagged as though it has been taking bites of the silicone or chewing on it or something? Always possible there's another explanation though... but also the fact that in some instances it sure appears to be latching on to it or something and trying to pull away as though its taken a bit and is trying to rip it off? Again , always other possible explanations...
Honestly at this point I just want to confirm for myself that this issue isn't just that I've spent roughly 800 dollars on two aquariums from a well known manufacturer and they BOTH failed on me after a year or two of being rarely touched and safely below the sand bed... because that almost feels as unbelievable as a worm somehow chewing my my seals...
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Oh, no thanks, I'm good
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So, this is what I was thinking as well... I've been doing this for a while (12 or so years?) but I won't claim to be an expert on a lot of things related to hitchhikers etc. but I really thought there were some worms that were known to bore through rocks. I've never had a strong believe that its EATING (i.e. consuming it for sustenance) the silicone, but I wouldn't personally be shocked if its biting pieces of it off and spitting them out or something. Feels like the thing was burrowing downward , hit the glass bottom, made a right turn and kept going forward until it had made it through the seal and hit glass at the front of the tank. If I had to guess, It'll now turn one more time and head downward until the tank springs another leak (if I don't do something about this soon)
I don't know how you can differentiate between 1) a small hole that just got bigger - that a worm decided to live in 2) a worm that created a hole and made it bigger or 3) that the worm is actually 'eating' the silicone (i.e. using it as nutrition) - which I would doubt.
Since thousands of people have reef tanks - and this is an extremely rare problem - I would assume that choice 1 is the most likely answer. However - if the silicone is damaged - I can see a scenario where a worm would just make the hole bigger and bigger until there is a weaker spot - which worsens it further, etc.
I just posted a new thread on same issue. My tank did not have any leak or voids you could see in the black silicone until 3 weeks ago and of course started leaking. Aquarium builder is currently building a new one as I am not 100% on the leak but seen these this past week. I have been in Reefing 6 years and all my other tanks had clear silicone and I used Aqueon on 1. Never had a leak in my tanks until now. I am requesting clear silicone on the new build. My current tank is 280 gallons.
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Interesting! That's a big tank to be dealing with leaks on :/
I've got another video I took the other day that I'll be uploading in the morning which shows a bit better view of the worm in mine doing whatever it is it's doing to the silicone...
I would have reached in there and removed it ASAP. the video is very informative, and now people have one more thing to worry about in their tanks.
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Yeah, my biggest issue is that its so TINY right now that I'm not sure if I'll be able to actually catch the thing ... its also progressing so slowly on the silicone that its not a huge risk right now (and I figured I could wait a few days here to get some footage that most people have probably never seen before in hopes of understanding this thing a bit better
As far as I'm aware, this rock didn't come direct from the ocean, but anything's possible...
If I'm remembering correctly, the timeline was something like: 12 yrs ago I got a 14g biocube. Had no real issues with that tank for years and years, moved from Minnesota to Illinois back in 2016 , upgraded to a 25g tank from Innovative Marine like a year later and bought some live rock from a store here in Central illinois to add to it, and maybe about 1-2 yrs after getting that tank (also adding various corals from a couple different sources including some from northern Illinois along the way) I noticed my first leak. This developed into a second lead and I think maybe even a 3rd? Finally decided to take everything but one or two rocks which had anemones attached tot hem out of that tank and put them into a new tank (same brand and model) and that brings us here... This tank was set up with brand new sand (carbsea live sand in a bag) and a couple of rocks (may have only been one, I remember trying to keep it minimal and just seed it with the rock the anemone was on) but I guess that was all it took... unless these worms happen to be common hitchikers here in Illinois or something and a new one came in on coral I bought since then or something ?
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Okay everyone. This video may be the most definitive proof of what's going on in here so far. I think this will be the last video I try to take of this thing. My next step is going to be to either try to remove it from the tank or just tear down the tank itself and begin the process of starting from scratch.... I hate to keep starting over with my tanks but I just don't know if I can risk putting a single item back into this tank that's been in there previously at this point.... I don't want to lose my thriving population of pods and bacteria etc but I'm not sure I see any other solution that ensures this doesn't happen again...
I'm in Decatur, IL.
The only way I could see something like that getting into a tank is hitchhiking it's way in on some live rock that would have come directly from the ocean. Years ago we used to import rock from Fiji and it was always chock full of worms similar to what you have in your video.
Edit: After watching the most recent video, it's mouth parts are shaped like a bobbit worm.
The only way I could see something like that getting into a tank is hitchhiking it's way in on some live rock that would have come directly from the ocean. Years ago we used to import rock from Fiji and it was always chock full of worms similar to what you have in your video.
Edit: After watching the most recent video, it's mouth parts are shaped like a bobbit worm.
Man that's crazy. I've never seen anything like that before. I would definitely start over if I were you. Bleach everything.. Good luck man
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