“Came home after being away for a month to find a clump of long, thin, reddish-brown worms living in my downstairs toilet in water that looked dirty”, writes this reader in Southern California regarding the worms pictured below. “Didn’t note heads on the worms or segmentation. Any help would be appreciated!” To start with, we want to thank our reader for the great photo. It was thanks to this photo, as well as the context, that we have identified these as tubifex worms. Tubifex worms, otherwise known as tubificid worms, sewage worms, sludge worms, or bloodworms, are a marine species of worms that eat bacteria and organic debris in sediment.

It has happened before that people find tubifex worms in their toilet, and usually it is a case like our reader’s: their toilet was left unused for a long period of time. When a toilet is unused for a long period of time, the water inside it becomes stagnant. All sorts of growths start to form in the water, like algae, fungi and bacteria, which will attract the likes of the tubifex worm. Our reader also mentions that the water looked dirty. This is probably a result of the tubifex worms residing in the water: the dirtiness could be their droppings, but it could also be the growths that they are feeding on.

Alternatively, if our reader did not clean his toilet before leaving his home, then it might be dirty for that reason. Even when a toilet is used often, if it is not cleaned often, then growths can also start to form. For that reason, the best way to prevent invasions of tubifex worms and other detritivores is to keep one’s toilet, and entire bathroom and kitchen, clean. Cleaning one’s drains is especially important, as it is through the piping that the worms come. Tubifex worms are especially known for living in sewers, hence the name ‘sewage worms’. They also tend to stick together in these writhing masses like the one our reader pictured, which we suppose will make it easier for our reader to move these worms outside, which is what we recommend doing.

In conclusion, the red worms our reader found in his toilet are tubifex worms. They are not harmful to humans or pets, and only showed up because the toilet was left uncleaned and unused for so long. As long as our reader keeps the toilet and bathroom clean while he is there, more worms should not show up. If they do, he might be experiencing a leak in his piping, in which case he could contact a professional. We hope this helps, and we wish our reader the very best!

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