Please help me identify this worm

[stefanie]

i found about 6 of these in a container of live blackworms. all were dead except one, which, when separated from the water, quickly went back into the worm clump. it moved by contracting and expanding its body. its about 1 cm long, and appears to be segmented with a mouth on one end. i couldnt find anything on google that looked similar.

i'm pretty concerned, because i put a few of the blackworms into my tank before i found these things. as far as i can tell, none got into the tank.

both of the ones in the pictures are dead.

 

[joseph]

I think these are some kind of leech. They come in regularly with the blackworms. The newts will eat them but I prefer to remove them.

 

[joan]

I also get those in my blackworms and remove them. They are definately leeches, but species-wise, I couldn't tell ya.

 

[edward]

This species of leech is a specialist predator on the blackworms and is harmless to the newts.

Ed

 

[joan]

Could it be used as a foodsource? When I was feeding blackworms, my larvae were pretty small, so I removed them. Maybe I could have fed them to my larger animals.

 

[stefanie]

thanks guys

its good to know that i don't have to worry. though, i'm still a little grossed out that they were mostly dead.

just out of curiosity, had some gotten into the tank, would they have bred and killed all the blackworms living on the tank floor? i like knowing that my newt can hunt down some live food whenever he wants, and i don't particularly }want a tank full of leeches (yick!).