SarahHelena
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hi all! So about a month ago I spotted these weird white worms swimming in my teacup aquascape that I keep on my windowsill. I have no idea what they are, but despite 50% water changes each week they wont go away.
Here's the lowdown on my Aquascape:
* No fish in there, just some marimo algae and HC.
* Water gets changed about 50% once a week.
* No filter, or pump to circulate the water but plants and weekly water changed keep it pretty fresh
* No ammonia/nitrate/nitrite readings since there's only plants in there, but given the frequent water changes it's probably pretty low.
* Occasional tiny doses of "flourish" for the plants
* Aquascape is kept indoors only so possibility of fly larvae is minimal (But I suppose not impossible)
At first I thought they were flukes, detritus worms, or maybe planaria, but I've never heard of any of those being able to swim (planaria usually scoot around the glass), and since there's no water movement of any kind I can say with confidence that what I'm looking at is definitely swimming. I don't detect any antennae or anything to classify them as crustaceans. They just look smooth, white, and slightly more bulbous at the back end than the front. They are about a millimeter long each. They seem to be swimming in a circular formation when there is a lot of light coming in the window, and they "twist swim" with almost water snake style movements, but move very very slowly.
Here's a link to a video of them that I've uploaded on youtube to show you what I'm talking about:Tiny White Worms In My Nano Aquascape Aquarium - YouTube
Sorry in advance for the poor video quality. It was VERY hard to get a sharp image of something that tiny using my iPhone.
Does anyone have any idea what they are? I'd love to know.
Here's the lowdown on my Aquascape:
* No fish in there, just some marimo algae and HC.
* Water gets changed about 50% once a week.
* No filter, or pump to circulate the water but plants and weekly water changed keep it pretty fresh
* No ammonia/nitrate/nitrite readings since there's only plants in there, but given the frequent water changes it's probably pretty low.
* Occasional tiny doses of "flourish" for the plants
* Aquascape is kept indoors only so possibility of fly larvae is minimal (But I suppose not impossible)
At first I thought they were flukes, detritus worms, or maybe planaria, but I've never heard of any of those being able to swim (planaria usually scoot around the glass), and since there's no water movement of any kind I can say with confidence that what I'm looking at is definitely swimming. I don't detect any antennae or anything to classify them as crustaceans. They just look smooth, white, and slightly more bulbous at the back end than the front. They are about a millimeter long each. They seem to be swimming in a circular formation when there is a lot of light coming in the window, and they "twist swim" with almost water snake style movements, but move very very slowly.
Here's a link to a video of them that I've uploaded on youtube to show you what I'm talking about:Tiny White Worms In My Nano Aquascape Aquarium - YouTube
Sorry in advance for the poor video quality. It was VERY hard to get a sharp image of something that tiny using my iPhone.
Does anyone have any idea what they are? I'd love to know.
