Worms?

[Gold]

I have a planted tank that have small 1cm long worm like creators in it. They are white and are not free swimming. The only way I found them is that I moved a tank decoration and dumped the water out of it and they where moving and not on the current. I also have what appears to be hair growing on my frill plants (Myriophyllum simulans).

This tank has snails and ghost shrimp which I am breeding for feeders for my other tank. I have a variety of differant gravel no other Substrate. Plants are frill plant Myriophyllum simulans), Marimo mossball that I have split from a larger one, moneywort and Anacharis. It is set up in my basement which is not bug proof. So this could be from an invader I have not introduced. It is filtered by a sponge filter. It is a ten gallon tank.

 

[Gold]

Dose any one know what is going on pls help.

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Whats your feeding schedule like?

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Sounds like you may have Planeria, which is a parasite. They are an indicator that the aquarium has excess food left over.

If you have Planaria it's time to give your aquarium a thorough cleaning. Pay particular attention to the substrate, as that's usually where they find their food. Make sure there are no dead plants, or other wastes in the tank.

 

[Nitwig]

Check your water parameters. If they are ok I wouldn't worry about the planaria. In fact even if they aren't ok I wouldn't worry about them either, I would just correct the water problem. I see them kicking around lots of my planted tanks from time to time. I also see my fish snacking on them. If you have live plants that's where they came from. They are among my baby fishes first foods. They are not parasites. They do increase their population when you over feed. In a healthy system they are not a problem. All they do is eat excess food. If you have a bunch of floating plants like I do in my fry tank the crushed flakes get hung up in the plants and provide food for both fish and planaria. Since my system has plenty of biological filtration its not an issue. If they bother you go ahead and gravel vac and feed less. I would highly suggest not trying to add chemicals to kill them as that could cause a great deal of harm when there wasn't a problem to begin with.

 

[Nitwig]

I was wrong about planaria. I was thinking of nematodes. Post a picture and maybe they can be identified. I still don't think what you have are parasites, but they could be dangerous to some shrimp and fish fry from what I have read. Large planaria can hunt small aquarium residents. If what you have are nematodes like what I have then my previous post applies.

 

[Gold]

Thank you for the information. it looks like i have Detritus worms they should not be a problem from what I have read they are common and are not an issue for fish. They feed on left over fish food. Are only a problem if there is a population boom and they start to climb the side of the tank. As then they start using to much oxygen. Also I worry about cleaning the tank to much as it could cause me to lose my shrimp fry.

 

[Jakester79]

Just a side note. Parasites do not thrive on left over fish food and dead things. That goes against what a parasite is. They depend on other living organisms to survive.

 

[Gold]

Just a side note. Parasites do not thrive on left over fish food and dead things. That goes against what a parasite is. They depend on other living organisms to survive.

I do not believe anyone's has called this a parasite because it is not it is more like part of an biome (sometimes called an ecosystem) so there for it is a healthy part of the tank. But just like anything to much is not good and can be a symptom of a larger problem.

This should not be the case in my situation as I only saw them after moving a Piece of decoration.

Thank you for you comment. I appreciate the help