Parasite Problem

[JourReve08]

The other day, after a water change, I notices several wiggly white worms in the water, parasites I assume. This explains why my platy got so sick. She is currently being treated in a hospital tank, but I'm not sure how to deal with the infested tank! It is planted and has many young shrimp and snails which would be impossible to relocate. I'm feeling fed up with planted tank (and inverts for that matter) because I can't figure out to get rid of parasites without killing everything but the fish! Any advice? I have been vacuuming the gravel best I can and I took the pre-filter sponge off of my Aquaclear 20 filter. Temp has been raised for a few weeks now.

10g semi-planted
temp - 80
ph - 7
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 2.0
three cory cats
one male betta
six young cherry barbs
two rcs and shrimplets
a few good size pond snails, which I am actually quite fond of

All other fish besides the platy seem fine, with the exception of slightly pink gills on the cory cats.

Is there any safe way to treat a planted tank for parasites?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Do the white worms look round or flat? Round worms = nematodes (aka: detritus worms). Flat = planaria.

 

[JourReve08]

Hard to tell because they are so small, but round I think!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

They're probably nematodes... Detritus worms. They're harmless. Your small fish should eat them. Also you can keep their population down by keeping up with the weekly PWC's and not over feeding the fish.

 

[JourReve08]

That's a relief! Still, should I be concerned that my platy got so sick while in that tank? Granted I had just moved her back in from a different birthing tank. Maybe the stress of the move just made her more susceptible to disease? Still makes me worry that there is no sure way to treat the tank. But I guess clean water is the best medicine!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah I've dealt with these worms on many occasions. I don't know of anything that would kill them. I've tried fenbenzenole (active ingredient in dewormer) to kill some planaria that also had nematodes in there, the planaria died but i noticed the nematodes floating and wiggling around in the water column a month later. As long as you don't see worms coming out of the fish or attached like a hookworm, you'll be fine. The platy must gotten sick by a multitude of potential other causes.