Missouri woman looks at her aquarium. Then she notices an uninvited mystery hatchling slithering around: ‘I don’t have any fish in here’
'Why is it twerking on your gravel?'
Black News 
A woman took a hard look at her empty aquarium. Then she realized that there was something alive lurking in the tank’s pebbles.
Ylexis Brown (@ylexisbrown) asked the “fishkeepers of TikTok” to identify a disturbing entity living at the bottom of her fish tank in a video with more than 1.8 million views.
Woman Finds Mystery Creature in Aquarium
Brown was excited about her aquarium. She bought a “whole bunch” of aquatic plants for her tank, and she was cycling it to establish beneficial bacteria. For that reason, she didn’t have any fish in the tank. It was completely empty when she noticed that there was “some kind of worm” living at the bottom.
“What is that?” she asked in her video. Then, she zoomed in on the flat, bilaterally symmetrical organism that was floating around in the water. The small, white tube-like creature wasn’t any larger than a developing inchworm, but it bothered Brown enough to create a post. She later posted two more angles of the creature: one where she zoomed in on the creature again, and another giving an update as to what she thought it was.
What Is the Specimen?
Commenters had a few suggestions as to what the creature was. Initially, many viewers thought that it was a planarian, a remarkably hardy flatworm that would spell complete disaster for the TikToker. Planarians are parasitic, and they can cause major issues when they’re housed with snails and shrimp. Cutting it in half leads to eventual regrowth. An infestation can also be a detriment to the tank’s overarching health.
Others suggested that the worm-like organism was a horsehair worm. Horsehair worms differ in that they’re significantly easier to get rid of, and they don’t pose a major risk to fish. They are, however, still parasites. Fish tank owners should proactively remove them.
Other commenters suggested completely different ideas: from “caddisfly larve” to “some kind of insect larvae” to the humorous “Alaskan bull worm,” referencing a creature from “SpongeBob SquarePants.” No one could figure out exactly what the organism was.
How Did It Get In Her Tank?
While viewers couldn’t agree as to what the creature was, they guessed that recent additions to the tank could have brought it in.
“I think it’s a snail leach you can remove them with tweezers they were probably on ur plants,” one viewer said.
Another commenter, who replied to one of Brown’s comments discussing the freshwater tank, said, “That’s [what your] plants [gave] you… You need to take the plants out get new one clean them right restart.”
Plants and other foliage additions in aquariums can inadvertently introduce new “roommates” to the bustling ecosystem. For instance, it’s not uncommon for tanks to accidentally get snails, which most aquarists consider pests. It’s unclear, though, whether or not this specimen poses any sort of risk to incoming fish that might enter the tank. It’s also unclear whether or not her plants specifically introduced the specimen to the tank.
AllHipHop reached out to Brown via TikTok direct message and comment. We’ll update the story if she responds.
@ylexisbrown #fishtok #plantsoftiktok #fish #help #aquarium ♬ original sound – Ylexis Brown
