Worm?

[dkpate]

I didn't post this in the "unhealthy" section, because my fish is fine.

Every time I do a pwc, (the last 2 times), I notice this little worm in my betta tank, only on one half though. It seems to wriggle with it's head and it's body follows, and it "swims" vertically, and I have NO IDEA where it came from.
I can't catch it because it's too small.
What should I use in the tank to get rid of it? Like I said, it doesn't seem to be bothering the fish, (have had him since Sept.), but I don't like it in there, and want it gone. Should I just tear the whole tank down and sanitize it, or is there some sort of med I could use?
Thanks!

 

[dkpate]

Also, I just did a little googling, and there is one pic of planaria that KIND of looks like it, but my bettas aren't overfed and no food falls to the bottom. There seems to only be one worm.
The site said that I should do a gravel vac every day, and then use Quick Cure?

 

[corrado33]

Ew... gross. Yeah it's really easy to know if betta food falls to the bottom. Your post reminds me of a dream I had last night. I kept getting earth worms stuck in my sock. Except it didn't feel like a worm, it just hurt like heck where ever the worm was. I could see it through the sock. (It looked like a giant popped out vein, like people get on their forehead when they're REALLY mad) And I personally don't like to touch earth worms, so I kept having whoever was with me take them out. Every time they'd take off my sock, but every time as soon as I would look, it would be there again. What a weird dream...

 

[BigJim]

Where there's one planarian, there are generally more. If your water's in good shape and you're not overfeeding, I wouldn't worry about it. Just clean the gravel well if it really bothers you. I wouldn't mess with meds.

 

[jsoong]

I get tube worms & stuff in my tank. This is really just part of a natural ecosystem of a tank. I wouldn't worry about it at all. If it really bothers you, just do some pwc's. I wouldn't use any meds on a harmless creature .... it will just create more problems than it is worth.

 

[HeathB]

2 words: Worm Farm!

 

[dkpate]

LOL Heath! I am NOT making a worm farm LOL, gross. When I was looking up worm pics last night I was gagging just from those!

Corrado, that's not a dream, that's a nightmare! YUCK!

Ok, I will leave the worm be, since he is harmless, but I am still gonna try to catch him....I change 50% of the water twice a week with the Aqueon thingy, so I guess I will have to do more.

Thanks!

 

[ChileRelleno]

Canned reply... Use what fits your situation, you seem bright enough

More than likely planaria or nematodes.

These links may be of help,
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information ... ble_p2.htm
http://www.petfish.net/articles/Aquariu ... g-worm.php
GuppyLog || Clarification on Camellanus?

Some questions, are they...
Little white squiggly worms aprox 1/16"-1/8", that are freefloating and on the glass?
Or are they on your fish?

Freefloating? More than like they are Planaria or Nematodes that are caused by excessive nutrients/lack of maintenance, aka a dirty tank.

The best course of action is to:
1) Very thoroughly and deeply vacuum your substrate, do this daily for about a week.

2) Rinse your filter media and media chamber in a bucket of tankwater.

3) Raise your temp (slowly) to 86'-90'f.

4) Don't feed for aprox five days (will not hurt your fish) and then cut back on regular feedings (smaller portions and less frequency).

5) Add a dose of salt to the water, standard aquarium dosage (1tblspn per 5gal) is fine but you may dose higher (up to 1.001 SG(specific gravity).
...........................................................

On the fish? Clinging or hanging off/out of its body/anus?
Then you could be dealing with parasitic nematodes or any of a host of other parasites. Drastic measures such as a anti-parasitic medication may be needed.

Lets see how you answer and then go from there.

HTH

 

[dkpate]

Well, the tank gets cleaned twice a week, so it's not dirty. The fish are not overfed, so that's not it. This is why I can't figure out where the worm came from. It is not on the fish, so I am not TOO worried about it, but I just don't like it in there.
I guess I will just vacuum every day for a week and see what happens. There is only one squiggler though.