# Plant Eating Worm



## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

About 2 weeks after setting up my son's 10 gallon, one of the Crypts started shredding it's stems much like a string unravels. The leaves would subsequently die and fall off. About a week later a pink water lily started doing the same thing. Today, (about 4 weeks have passed), I am looking at the aquarium trying to figure out what is wrong and I find this worm eating the lily. It looks like a common garden worm but is was fully submersed in the water. I searched the forums and only found smaller worms described. Any ideas what it could be and where it came from?
Thanks, Brian


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It's got little legs, try searching for caterpillars, . . oh, I know I've seen a thread about that before. I think someone had a dragonfly larvae. That's it! Search for larvae, larval forms of insects. I hope that little devil is the only one you had.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Catharine's dead right - that's a caterpillar. There is a moth whose larvae eat lilies; if I remember rightly it's called a China Mark Moth, or something like that, but they are normally on outdoor lilies. Maybe it's hitched a ride into your tank on something?

The crypts were just melting from the change in conditions, they'll be back in no time at all.


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

So far it has been the only one but we just found it this morning. We cleaned all the damaged leaves out and are watching to see if there is any more damage. Thanks for the help.
Brian


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

I am pretty sure it is a moth that thrives in moist conditions, eating semi submerged plants and so on. Sorry I cant remember the name of it. put it in a jar with some plants and see if goes from larval to cocoon stage.


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

I have him in a jar and I just threw a leaf in. I'll post again when something develops. Thanks again for the help.


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## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

As a biologist I think its pretty neat (sorry). There are very very few Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) in North America that are truly or semi-aquatic.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I had something similar last summer. Except in my tank it ate all the plants.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ssions/27405-what-is-this-aquatic-insect.html

Apparently having these aquatic larvae shows you have good water conditions.


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

It's a caterpillar of a moth of the family *Pyralidae*. You probably got them in the tank from eggs or small larval stages transported on a plant or wood you added to the tank. The adults are fairly small moths with a needle shape and a kind of 'snout' shape at the tip of the head.

If you got them from eggs, there will be alot of them in the tank and they will defoliate the plants they want to eat. You need to control them if thats whats happening. If the tank is covered, they will emerge, mate, and lay eggs to start the cycle again all over again, all while flitting around under the hood. Most healthy plants can take total defoliation without dying, especially lillys.

If you search this forum for the family name, you will find some other threads bout this.


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

Thanks to all for all of the info. He is still alive and well in the jar but he has gone from submerged to staying out of the water now. What surprised me was finding him thriving at the bottom of the tank eating the lily and not on top of the water eating removed leaves. Since removing it from the tank I do not have any more plant damage and the lily is starting to recover. I am still keeping a close eye out for more though. Will post again when it makes a change.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

If the jar lid is too tight the air will run out and it will die. 

Maybe thats why the caterpillar has moved out of the water...


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

Alot of aquatic insects move from water to land to pupate (form a cocoon). Judging from the size of that caterpillar, it was near max size and ready to pupate. If you want to watch the process, I suggest putting a twig with a bit of dead foliage a couple of inches above the water level into the water and see if it crawls up to make the cocoon.


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

Since it is so small, we didn't put a whole in the container for fear of it crawling out. We do open the lid several times a day to let fresh air in though. Since it moved out of the water we lowered the water level and have been feeding it lettuce. About 3 days ago it seemed to form a cocoon in the lettuce. We will watch and see what happens. (Hopefully its just not dead and moldy). In hindsight though spring has sprung in Houston and when the trees bud out we get what we call worms but are actually caterpillars falling out of and coming down webs like a spider out of the trees. I have noticed that they look just like what we found in the aquarium and wonder if maybe this was the source? Still not sure how it could have gotten in the aquarium but to this day we have not found any others. Still the ones outside don't live underwater like we found this one.


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

Just wanted to post a final update. We had to pronounce him dead a few weeks back.  We were not able to see what he (or she?) turned into. Anyway thanks everyone for your help. 
Brian


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## Sandking (Aug 21, 2014)

Pond snails often get the blame for the damage done by caterpillars since they can be found in the damaged areas as they begin to decay. Other pond inhabitants sometimes take the rap. Be sure to look for larvae before you try to kill off other creatures that may be beneficial to your pond!


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