Free swimming worm (parasite?) help

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Linwood

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
537
Location
Cape Coral, Florida
I noticed what looked like rapidly swirling hair, and then realized it was some kind of free swimming worm. I only noticed as it was up near the light.

I scooped it out in a plastic cup where it is extremely actively swimming at the top of the water, vertical in orientation. it is about 8 mm long give or take, so this is a rather extreme blowup, the horizontal lines are the top of the water in the cup.

Tank details below. I have not feed any live food. I have fed packaged, freeze dried bloodworms, which this looks remotely like, but not all that much.

I am currently using a heat-only treatment for ich, on about day 7 at 88F, most signs are gone from the one fish that had it, everyone else was/is healthy looking. I have seen no signs of anything like this hanging on fish.

Other recent event is I did a filter clean for the first time 2 days ago, and it's very possible something got washed out that was living in it. It was not very dirty, and I very lightly rinsed the spongy media in its own water. It's a fluval 306.

Ghost shrimp are pregnant and giving off larvae but this doesn't look like any photos I've seen (and I assume the fish are eating them before I see them).

Is this a sign of some parasite I should be concerned about? This particular one is out of the tank of course, but it seems unlikely to be the only one, regardless of what it is.

i-rS59MHm.jpg


Tank: 45G, new-ish, 2 months old, cycled in first month. Chemistry normal (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 5-20 ppm, about 10ppm now, KG 5.5, GH 9, ph 7.6 (slowing reducing from about 8.0 with WC's).

Planted lightly on gravel/ecco-complete, all rocks and such added at during the first two weeks or so, nothing new. Jungle val (mostly), amazon sword, crypt wendtii, anubis. No CO2, light ferts from seacheam.

Stock: 1 x raphae catfish, 1 x bristlenose pleco (tiny), 5 x tetra serpae, 5 x congo tetra, 6 x ramshorn snails (early hitchikers), 4 x nitrite snails, 10 x ghost shrinp. Latest arrivals were 2 x congo tetra and BN pleco and nerite snails about 2 weeks ago. All stock from the same nearby LFS.

Lit with Satellite LED+ 2 x 4 hrs daily.

No obvious issues with water, clear, scavengers are keeping up with light algae growth.
 
He swims pretty fast so hard to take photos, here is another attempt. This is highly magnified, remember he's about a quarter inch +/- long.

It's been several hours since I caught him, he is now down in the bottom of the cup barely moving (it's tank water so he wasn't poisoned by the environment change).

i-DtW8DHc.jpg
 
Have you added new plants recently? I had a hitchhiker worm from that once


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Are they a problem?

Remembering that all I know is from the internet (where everything is true and correct)...

No. Unless there's so many as to cause some overwhelming swarm, which I understand happens. I've been stirring up parts of the gravel, and usually get 2-3 up for ever few square inches. The fish are having fun.
 
Yeah so probably too long ago for it to be from the plants. I wouldn't worry too too much as I don't think it is a parasite worm. I would only worry if you start to see a ton of them


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