Worms . . . Help

[PBirdsong]

Hey Guys. I have worms. Again. I came across these last time in the first incarnation of my 55 gallon. Since my tank was broken down for two months during my move, I figured I wouldn't have to deal with them again. Guess I was wrong.

Here's a picture of them on my mega-flow box. What do I need to do? I know a lot of worms are due to over feeding. I'm careful not to over feed. Infact; sometimes I probably underfeed. BUT I have an overflow that the food escapes into sometimes. Which means there is food that doesn't get eaten. They also APPEAR to be eating algae as well.

Anyways, the overflow itself has been a little annoying lately. I plan on relacing the tank and going with a HOB filter. Until then . . . death to the worms!

 

[lovemybarbs]

Do you have fish in with them?

 

[PBirdsong]

Yep, and the worms have been harmless to the fish.

By the way, my water condition:

Ammonia: ~0ppm
Nitrite: ~0ppm
Nitrate: ~6.0
PH: ~7.6

The worms aren't free swimming. They stick to the sides of anything in there. What the picture is of actually is the burrow that they make. The worms live inside those stringy things and just stick their heads out to eat anything nearby.

Any thoughts? This has been so common with me I'm surprised no one else has had these.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

wow. i have no idea man. i've never seen those before

all i've delt with were little tiny white worms, and those i believe are the ones that come from over feeding

 

[Devilishturtles]

No specific answer, but my guess would be that they are one of the numerous species of flatworms or nematodes. Since it's more subdued, dark, and higher in nutrient behind your overflow, they love it there.

 

[Elmware2000]

I've seen worm traps at a fish store. Are they affective, or just a gimmick to sucker beginners?

 

[Jchillin]

FW Bugs and things

Try looking there, a nice glossary of the things that creep in a FW tank.

 

[PBirdsong]

Hmm . . . nothing in that link really matches up except for "Unkown Worm". THese little things really tick me off.

In the mean time I have scraped them all off and did a 50% water change (which I do every weekend). I have also switched to sinking pellets for feeding. I'll let you know what happens . . .

. . . but if you think the filter is nasty, you should see the sump . . .