Little worms

[twubs]

Just was getting ready to clean out my 2.5 gallon betta tank and noticed a bunch of really tiny things on the tank wall. They are a little less then a centimeter long and are as thin as a piece of thread. You can see them moving off their head off the wall and crawling along. The betta has no interest in them. Anyone know what this could be? Treatment etc...

Want to be careful here that I don't cross contaminate my other tank.

 

[twubs]

Some reading has me thinking they are planera worms. Tryignt o figure out how or why though. These are a sign of excess food. I feed the betta pellets and i know for a fact he munches all three down every day.11

 

[ChelseaLake]

They're probably "planaria" worms. They're virtually harmless, just really ugly. They love uneaten food, so make sure you're not overfeeding your fish.

They're planaria if they have 2 black eyespots. You need to vacuum your gravel and do PWCs til they disappear. You could also add aquarium salt. It could take several days.

Good luck! I know they're ugly, but if it's just planaria, they won't hurt your fish!

 

[roydooms]

I had the same problem. I didn't know I have those worms in my substrate. I added pimafix to treat fin rot and thousands of tiny worms(like how you described) came out and was just floating in the tank. I don't know if pimafix killed the worms. I was told here that the worms was due to over feeding and not cleaning the substrate. I didn't know about fish-less cycling by then so I was cycling with fish and was told by petsmart(won't listen to them anymore) not to touch the substrate. Now, I make sure to gravel vac the parts without plants every time I clean the tank. I haven't seen any worms so far since the incident.

 

[twubs]

Cleaning it out

Being this is my betta tank and he was living in a bowl ( i know how dare I ) for some time, what is the best way to get rid of the worms? Can I transfer him back to his bowl and scrub the tank clean and spread out all the gravel so it drys or just toss it. Will the worms dried is left out of water?

Not so concerned with a recycle becuase I end up doing 50% water changes in teh tank twice a week.

 

[twubs]

Cleaned out the tank and put the betta back in his bowl. Tossed the gravel and soaked everything in boiling water. Didn't think bleach was allowed. I have since learned otherwise. The tank is now set back up and running. Moving the betta back tonight.

The boiling water should have cooked any of the residual worms and eggs, right?