We just got sent a video of a 3 inch long, red creature wiggling around in the water of a toilet bowl. The sender wants to know if this is an earthworm or a parasitic worm. She knows it doesn’t resemble a pinworm or tapeworm (which are parasitic) and notes that it was discovered in a clean toilet, not after a bowel movement.

As we mentioned, the critter is a couple inches long, very thin, and red. Although earthworms are discovered in toilets on a regular basis, we believe she has discovered a bloodworm!

Bloodworms are actually midge fly larvae, but they are called “bloodworms” due to their striking red color. As with other larvae, these creatures feed on organic matter. Bloodworms aren’t harmful to humans, but they may indicate that our reader should give her toilet a good cleaning. She should focus of getting rid of the grime that lives in the pipes connecting to the toilet, as well as the bowl itself. Using a cleaning supply that targets organic matter and a long pipe cleaning brush will help eliminate the feeding source for these larvae.

Although our reader mentioned this larva was found in an unused toilet, if there is any question that this worm might have come from a human she should get in contact with a doctor immediately. However, we do believe that this is a bloodworm, not a parasite.

In conclusion, a reader found what we believe is a bloodworm swimming around in her toilet.

• 
•