Freshwater Tank- Need Help Identifying Worm-like Creature

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PikminWorld

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 14, 2021
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7
A while ago I noticed a worm-like creature in my freshwater tank. I found it eerie looking, but it was on the side of my tank that was inaccessible for my aquatic creatures, so I figured it would not be an issue.

Unfortunately, this creature or one of its ilk found its way to the other side of the tank and seems to be predatory, at least towards snails and maybe even shrimp. The issue is, I'm not sure it's planaria. It doesn't have that triangle-shaped head nor does move similarly to one as far as I could tell.

What I can tell you about it is that it has a worm-like body and has a snout-like mouth that extends pretty far all things considering. It uses this to attach to things. It moves almost like a slinky and one odd feature about it that made me suspect it was not planaria was that it would curl up in a ball as a defensive maneuver, almost like a pill bug.

I have looked online and the usual results are detritus worms, planaria worms, and internal worms that fish can get. I can't figure this out, but it creeps me out.

I'll attach a few photos I tried to get of it now that I finally isolated it out of my tank.

Thank you for any help you can offer.
 

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I think I actually figured it out after a little more research. It appears to be a snail leech. A disturbing creature and I will need to make sure it doesn't have more spawn. It must have hitch-hiked on my plants, even though I washed them off.
 
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