woah! Freaky stuff moving in my tank!

[sudz]

Hey guys! woke up this morning (10 minutes ago) and looked at my tank.

THere is about 10 (guestimation) of these little tiny wormy/centipede things. No bigger than 2/8ths of an inch (3 mm) that are zipping around in tight little figure 8's

Will my fish eat them? or is this some harmful pest i've gotten?

I'm figuring it came in on the frozen bloodworm i sometimes feed. It better not be from the frozen gerber baby food peas! lol

Anyone have info on them? I'll be googlin once i get to work, i'm running out the door now.

[acronym:8a15a4a65b="Thanks in Advance"]TIA[/acronym:8a15a4a65b]!

[lmw80]

it sounds like planaria. They are worms, and they are harmless. Your fish should eat them. Planaria is usually I sign of overfeeding or the tank in need of maintenance.

[sudz]

http://www3.sympatico.[acronym:5c98e286d4="Calcium"]ca[/acronym:5c98e286d4]/drosera1/fish/worms.htm#nematode

Is Planaria another name for glass worm?

However, you are most likely right in the overfeeding area. I was having a problem with 0 nitrates and plant growth, so the [acronym:5c98e286d4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:5c98e286d4] told me to feed a bit more... the fish should eat it and create waste.

I've since stopped that, as i'm dosing KNO3, but its more than likely the cause.

Thanks for the reply. which of my fish will eat this? (44 [acronym:5c98e286d4="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:5c98e286d4] in sig)

[lmw80]

I believe glass worm is another name for planaria. I know my gourami and my tetras ate them....I would think with maybe the exception of the cae, all your fish will eat them.

[sudz]

nice. Thanks for easing my worries. I've actually got a gravel vac on order from e-bay. Should be here any day now. That'll help clean it up!

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Originally Posted by sudz

little tiny wormy/centipede things. No bigger than 2/8ths of an inch (3 mm) that are zipping around in tight little figure 8's

Doesn't sound much like planaria, especially the zipping around. They aren't really strong swimmers [acronym:b268a5dafc="In My Experience"]IME[/acronym:b268a5dafc]. They also wouldn't be called centipede-like. Glass worms are mosquito larvae so you would see a distinct head region.
The best thing to do is wait and see. If you see more, then you can worry. In the mean time, do some extra gravel vacs and their food supply should dry up. :P

[lmw80]

When planaria swim around the tank, yes, they do zip around.

Either way I do agree with the gravel vacs and less food.

[sudz]

they don't really "zip" around the tank. They zip around in tight figure 8's or circles. their "swimming radius" is about 4 mm or less. They do latch onto the glass sometimes too, but just because the current pushes them to it.

Less food it is.

I'll see if i can borrow my dads camera and take a macro of it. (it'll still be small though!)

[sudz]

Update:

I cleaned my filter for the first time (i JUST realized i've had my tank for a month now!!!) and did a gravel vac right after, and scrapped off the little amounts of BBA that i was getting and sucked up the floaters with the gravel vac. I also didn't feed them that day. No more wormy things!

They also apparently HATE light, so i altered the timer to make it a 12 hour day as opposed to 8.

My hornwort is still brown and fuzzy though. Now if only i could fix that. It just doesn't seem to like my 44 gallon. but it grows like a weed in my 10.

*confuzzled*

[Veneer]

True planaria (a variety of flatworm) do not "swim" about.