Little worms.

[martiniduck]

I have a 10 gallon FW tank that finished cycling about 1 month ago. I have 3 guppies in it. Lately the growth of algae has gone out of control and I accidentally introduced snails into the tank with plants. I have been picking them out to contorl them. I was looking at the tank this morning and noticed little white worms, 1/4-1/2" long, and thinner than a hair, stuck to the back of the tank and floating in the water. They seem to be eating the alge.What are these? are they hrmful to my fish? Stupid question I fed my fish freeze dried tubifex worms , is there any way they could have come from that? What do I do about them? If I had room in the tank I would get some clown loaches to get rid of the snail and they would probaly like to eat those worms.

 

[joy13]

If you are having a snail explosion you are probably overfeeding. The little white worms are most likely planaria usually caused by overfeeding as well. Don't feed the fish for a couple of days then do a deep vacuuming of the substrate. Snails are always a good indicator of what is going on in the tank. They planaria won't hurt the fish but if you have shrimp they can cause problems with them.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Watch for shrimp that already have planaria worms in them as well.


also a simple ALUM DIP will stop introducing hitchhikers to your tank.

 

[meegosh]

Also a bleach dip would get rid of snails and snail eggs. I did this recently to a batch of vals I got on here that had snails. A week later and I still have no snails.

I used about a 1:30 ratio of bleach:water and I 'dipped' them for about 45-60 seconds. I did not submerge the roots into the solution. I rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed some more. Then I let them soak in some dechlorinated water for about 10 minutes just to be sure and then rinsed some more.

 

[joy13]

Myself I never worry about hitchhiking snails. I have MTS, ramhorn, and pond snails. I have one tank that was without snails and am changing that. I find them a good indicator of what is going on in my tank.

 

[martiniduck]

Thanks for the advice. I only put a couple of flakes, twice a day in the tank. The guppies always hide and never seem to come out and eat. I also do bi-weekly 10-20% pwc. I set this tank up as my QT tank, but I am now using it to hold the guppies that someone dumped on me. I don't have any problems with my 29 gallon tank. The fish in there are all healthy and the snail population is very small. The snails actually started in that tank and I think they hitched a ride into the 10g on the filter material from the 29g tank. Would a cory like to eat the worms? I have 3 in my 29g?

 

[joy13]

I know that fenbendazole will kill planaria. I don't know of any fish that will eat them consistent sometimes angels, but not all will. You might can make a trap, a plastic container weighted down with some small holes in the top and bait it with something good like bloodworms. It might be worth a try.

My guppies are always front and center when I come in the room the little beggars.

 

[meegosh]

Yeah I'm not sure why your guppies are hiding. Mine never hide, especially when there is food involved!

 

[Mystery]

I have some planaria in a tank where I am raising a snail clutch, and so need to over-feed a little as they can't move very far at their current size. Any ideas how to keep them under contol? In one of my previous tanks increase water movement seemed to help?

 

[martiniduck]

All the fish in my 29g tank act like I starve them and practically jump out of the tank with anticipation of a feeding, especially my mollies, whenever I walk by the tank, but these guppies are always hiding in the 10g. They where braver in the 29g with the rest of the fish. I wonder if it is because they need the security of more fish in the tank? I can't move them back, because I have no room in the 29g. I have some mollies that were born in the tank and have escaped the mouths of their parents. So that tank is maxed out. I guess I could move some of the other fish in to the 10g, but I am worried about the condition of that tank with the worms.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Same here martini, I think its in our water source.


ALL my fish from the kuhlis to the angels come to the top for food, if I am not there to feed them they impatiently wait my arrival at the door part of the hood.


Martini where do you get your livestock?

I called critters today and am going to mosey on down there and check them out, I just got back from sea escapes.


Those worms remind me of tape worms that the dogs get, a long stringy thing with no end in sight.

I had a GS come in with one in it, that GS was euthanized before it even got in my tank.

 

[martiniduck]

Yes, that's what those worms look like. I am lucky it is just in the small QT tank. Have you had any problems with the loaches or angels, with the hard water? I have stuck to mollies, guppies, and platties. I have experimented with neons and cories and they seem fine. I do use water from my softener and have not seem much of a problem.

Some of the fish I purchased are from Petsmart in Geneva, but I did buy some from Critters and Sea Scape. Most of the fish I have stocked in my tanks are home grown, not purchased. My fish keep breeding like rabbits. This is the first tank I have had in St. Charles and my fish seem to be healthier, than when I had my tank filled with Chicago water. I never had any fish breed in Chicago water and I had that tank for 5 years. The differecne may be that I did not know about cycling and water changes then. I was told by "experts" back then, that old water is the best.

 

[martiniduck]

I did two 50% water changes in two days and I have not fed the fish. I still have those worms. I was thinking of getting khulli loach or two in the 10 gallon tank to deal with the worms. Do they need large groups like other loaches? Is the tank too small for them?

 

[jackdaniel]

Keep changing the water and vacuuming the substrate. They suck!

 

[bmg07]

kuhlis dont add much 2 ur bio load u could probbaly get like 4. yes they do like to be in large groups.im planning on getting some more for my 15 gal.

 

[gzeiger]

Nobody answered the other half of their question. Unless their appearance really bothers you, those worms won't hurt anything.

 

[martiniduck]

I think the Guppies were hiding because the female was about to give birth, again. She is more active now. I removed the fish and vacumed most of the water from the tank and washed the gravel and the tank. Replaced the water and the fish. I left the filters alone. I have a sponge filter and an external filter. Most of the worms and sails are gone, but now their is a weird rotting smell from the water. I did another 50% PWC and that did not help. I tested the water with API master test kit and the Amonia is 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5. I do not know what is causing the smell of the water. I would think if their was something rotting in the water the water quality would be bad. I know it's not the tap water, because my other tank uses the same water and I did a water change thier with no odor. Any ideas?

 

[gzeiger]

What do you mean exactly when you say you "washed" the gravel?

A tank that hasn't been cleaned enough (gravel vacuuming) will tend to build up rotting material in the substrate, and when it finally is cleaned deep down you won't get everything. The remainder ends up getting stirred and is either suspended in the water or laying on top of the gravel.

Water changes with gravel vacuum will help, but your nose is quite sensitive to the decay products, especially hydrogen sulfide, so you won't notice a reduction in the smell immediately.

It does seem like the nitrate would be higher if this was the explanation, but you've just done two big water changes and not much time has passed, so that really doesn't rule it out. Lack of ammonia and nitrite just means your filter is working fine.

 

[jackdaniel]

This brings up the "dirty aquarium smell" issue. I HATE that smell!

 

[martiniduck]

The water is crystal clear, the water quality test are perfect, the fish look healthy, but the smell is there. I drained the tank and added water to "clean" the gravel, then I vacuumed the gravel and all the water out. Did that 3 times. The last time the water I siphoned out was clean, no debris. I also cleaned all the decoration in the tank in my sink. Only fake plants in this tank. The only items I did not clean like new, was the filter media. Very confusing. When I had the worms, snail, and alge, I thought the tank was clean. I would do weekly water changes, I would only feed each fish a couple flakes each day, all the water test were fine, no deaths or sicknesses, in fact the fish kept on breading, and no smell. My 29 gallon has no problems with snails, algea, or worms. Is it the size of the tank that is the difference or the lighting? The 10 gallon has brighter lights in it. The bio load on the 29 g ismuch greater than in the 10 gallon. The 29 gallon is maxed out the 10 gallon only has 3 guppies in it. I am confused.