white worms

[possum]

I just bought a 125 gallon tank from ny brother. Last night he took all of his fish out and the gravel. When he started scooping out gravle little white worms went scattering all over the place and started dying within minutes! Any idea what these might be?

[Scottw68TN]

Planaria

[Allivymar]

Most likely nematodes.

Harmless if they are the kind that live in the gravel or on the tank walls (other types are parasites, like anchor worms, but these aren't). Pretty ubiquitous; if you removed every living thing off the face of the earth except the nematodes, you'd still know where they had been cause the living things like trees would be outlined in nematodes. Yuck.

Generally show up when fish are overfed or food isn't removed from the gravel. If he's removing and cleaning the gravel they'll be gone. If they show up again, some fish appear to love em: mollies, goldfish and loaches for example. They generally show up in tanks containing big eaters, like oscars, although they certainly aren't limited to those (I had em in my angel tank).

[possum]

well he is taking out the gravel so i cn get the tank! I am gonna have oscars so they wont hurt if i get them?

[possum]

the worms that is not the oscars lol

[Allivymar]

Naw, won't hurt em. Just unsightly. You may want to be sure to gravel vac frequently to remove any extra food (you want to feed the fish, not the worms *grin*).

[possum]

ok thanks