little white worms in gravel?!?! Help!

[kaiofcanada]

I am wondering what these little white worms were in the gravel of my 12g puffer tank. I have a suspicion, but want to be sure and what to do about it.

So, I feed my puffers a high protein diet and mostly live food: brine shrimp, black worms and blood worms. I feed them once daily in smaller amounts for three days and then two days not fed and so forth. I do 60-70% water changes every week with vaccuming of the gravel. I noticed when I feed them bloodworms about three weeks ago that a few, maybe 5, got away and burrowed into the gravel. I assumed that they might just die. Last week with my water change, I noticed two bloodworms come up in the vacuuming looking very much alive. I was surprised, but this is also the first time I fed either tank with live bloodworms and they got away.

This morning with my 70% water change and vacuuming I noticed tons of little white worms coming up when I vacuumed one particular area of the tank. Incidently or coicidentally this is also where I saw a couple bloodworms escape into the gravel. They look too large to be planaria, but I can not be sure. It was too fast for me to take a picture. But basically they looked to be around 1/4 of an inch, nearly white in colour and wiggley.

Any ideas? If they were bloodworms, do I need to be worried? Bloodworms are mosquito larve right? How might I get rid of them? Has anyone else ever had this experience?

I do not notice any white worms on the walls of the tank. I think I might see this if they were planaria. If planaria, I know to do an even more thorough job vacuuming and do more water changes. Help!

 

[kaiofcanada]

change...my bf who bought the worms said he is not sure if they were blood worms or tubifex worms...not sure if this matters Help!

 

[Mystery]

They are most likely detritus worms that just turn up if you have a lot of organic matter in the gravel, rather than any worm you have introduced. They tend to vanish again if the gravel is vacuumed, feeding limited and there is reasonable water flow.

 

[kaiofcanada]

They are most likely detritus worms that just turn up if you have a lot of organic matter in the gravel, rather than any worm you have introduced. They tend to vanish again if the gravel is vacuumed, feeding limited and there is reasonable water flow.

I thought about this...except I have a 20 g filter on this tank, vacuum thoroughly every week, and have 4 ghost shrimp scavenging, and do 50-70% water changes every 5-7 days. Most of the time when I vacuum not much comes up except empty snail shells, which I also remove manually. I am very diligent about this tank since I feed it only live foods.

As i mentioned, two weeks ago i vaccumed two adult blood/tubifex worms and got two more today. I think only 5 or 6 escaped. These guys were still alive and wiggling when I vacuumed them. That leaves 1-2 more somewhere in the tank.

I just read that tubifex and black worms can in fact breed in your gravel but not so much the bloodworms. I don't know what the larvae worms look like for these. Some people do this intentionally to stock live food in their tank. I don't think I really want to do this. It seems kinda, well gross. I also worry that if they die in the gravel of an ammonia spike.

I have seen planaria before in one of my earlier tanks. These worms are much longer and worm shaped than thread like. This is also what made me not consider detritus worms.

But if you think I am paranoid...I will do another water change and vacuuming every other day for a week and see how goes.

 

[kaiofcanada]

okay so I am pretty sure that they are not planaria anymore....my puffers are roaming the gravel and eating little worms. The worms are big enough for them to see and target and slurp up. They are a bit pinkish/light brownish looking.

The puffered discovered a few of them and now are being vigilant about finding more in the gravel.

I am still not sure to be concerned since the puffers are hunting the worms. I am worry of the what ifs if the worms don't have enough food and die in the gravel...will I get an ammonia spike. Other than removal of the gravel and cleaning, is their anyway to get rid of this unplanned worm hatchery?

 

[WhiteDevil]

You shouldnt spike, the puffer will get them all if he is allowed to.

Just keep up on your maintence and let the puffer do his job the rest of the week and see where you end up, dont freak out, they arent harmful to the fish.

 

[cabezon]

yay, free food.

 

[cwt]

planaria would be crawling up the sides of your tank, and once you know what they look like, not really very wormy. Tubifex live in very nutrient-rich, sewer-like conditions... you'd have to have some nasty gravel to breed them, I think. Probably just microworms.

 

[kaiofcanada]

planaria would be crawling up the sides of your tank, and once you know what they look like, not really very wormy. Tubifex live in very nutrient-rich, sewer-like conditions... you'd have to have some nasty gravel to breed them, I think. Probably just microworms.

ok kewl....are micro worms harmful to fish or people? Also, could these be blackworm spawn?

 

[cwt]

Microworms, which are small white squigglies, are very commonly used as fry food. As WhiteDevil said, if these really are food material, your puffer will deal with them ;0 But when you say 'live food' (fresh?) anything could happen... fewer variables with frozen foods.

about the planaria... I recently went to what I thought was the best LFS in my area... and one tank had a BUNCH of planaria crawling around the glass. When you've seen them, you'll know. Kind of a triangle/spade head with a thinner body.

 

[cabezon]

I have also seen small white wiggles, which are mosquitos. but just a few here and there, never a big clump.