Did a PWC and found worms

[Boogety48]

I just did a pwc in my tank and found little white worms everywhere. I can't get a pic of them because they're so small. They look almost like hairs stuck to the tank glass but when you watch it, it starts to move. I also see them on some of my cories. They don't look like anchor worms though. The tank is being treated for ich by raising the temp, adding air stones, and leaving the light off. Is there something I can do to get rid of them? Do I need to worry because I had my hands in there? I washed them in the hottest water I could stand and used antibacterial soap.

 

[jlk]

I am not positive as to what they are but if the worms are on your fish, this is a problem. I would work on ID'ing the worms first. If they have sucker mouths, you may have some real problems. Do you have fish that can tolerate aq salt? This would be my first suggestion. If not, my second suggestion would be praziquantel (prazipro). Id'ing the worms would really help!

 

[GodFan]

I have seen similar worms but never on fish!

 

[Boogety48]

As far as my husband can find they aren't bad worms. He had to take over looking because I was freaking out. He said its a type of worm that lives in the substrate that helps break down the food and fish poo. They're called nematodes. Most people don't see them but I was using my gravel vac to stir everything up. It lands on fish sometimes to clean stuff off them too. They seem to be gone off the fish I saw them on now so maybe this is right. Has anyone heard of this before?

 

[jlk]

If you truly have nematodes, this is a problem. Any worm that attaches itself to your fish can cause infections, ulcerations, & damage to both the fishes slime coat & skin in addition to other problems. Nematodes are also called roundworms. They also can affect humans. I attached 2 links so you can read some more about nematodes.

http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/22/Roundworms-infestation.html
Marine Fish Diseases and Parasites

 

[Boogety48]

This is the site that I found:

Worms in the Aquarium

This whole thing freaks me out. I just don't want to catch something.

 

[jlk]

This is the site that I found:

Worms in the Aquarium

This whole thing freaks me out. I just don't want to catch something.

Thanks for the link. The link does reference to nematodes as roundworms. Read the links I posted in respect to roundworms (nematodes) or google roundworms specifically for more info. I do disagree with the link posted that worms attaching themselves to fish do no harm. I would honestly start doing gravel vacs & water changes daily along with treatment with Prazipro (amazon sells it) to kill off the worms.