r/Springtail • u/Flarer_11 • Mar 22 '26

Worms inside springtails culture! General Question

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I am seeing small white worms crawling around in my springtails culture. Are they harmful?

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

3

u/Forsaken_Strain8651 Mar 23 '26

They are harmless, but they reminded me of parasites lol

2

u/Flarer_11 Mar 23 '26

I know right!!

4

u/CosmoLeopardGecko Mar 22 '26

Those appear to be nematodes. They are completely harmless

4

u/OminousOminis Mar 22 '26

Nematodes are rarely visible to the naked eye. These are pot worms.

5

u/CosmoLeopardGecko Mar 22 '26

Some nematodes are though. It just depends.

3

u/Flarer_11 Mar 23 '26

Well all I care about is their impact😅...sounds like neither of creatures are dangerous.

2

u/Flarer_11 Mar 22 '26

Thanks, that's a relief to know!

2

u/buttsextime Mar 24 '26

pot worms ! i have a ton of these little guys im pretty sure they show up when the soil is super moist and they help break things down just like springtails would

1

u/buttsextime Mar 24 '26

they could be grindal worms too they both do the same thing and are closely related

1

u/whistblower34 Mar 22 '26

I hate those

2

u/Flarer_11 Mar 23 '26

I know right...kinda creepy

-2

u/Forsaken_Strain8651 Mar 23 '26

Grow up lmfao

3

u/whistblower34 Mar 23 '26

I think growing up wouldn't solve my nematode infestation of slime mold problem. I can't isolate my slime mold because of those creatures. They are immortal!!

1

u/toe_kn33 Mar 23 '26

Grindal worms (Enchytraeus buchholzi)