Large white worms & Acid water???

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

CooyaFNQ

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 5, 2005
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First problem - Have noticed some white thread like worms on one of my O's about 1/4" long. Seem to large to be Planaria, not sure what they might be, any ideas. Nuisance or nasty?

Second problem - Have been doing 30% water changes twice weekly instead of weekly as the 2 O's seemed to be getting a bit tatty on their fins. Thinking it be water quality as the fish are fully grown now, I placed an extra powerhead & canister filter in tank (300L) to improve circulation & biofilter.
Current water parameters are Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate <10 but the water comes in at the bottom of the register at Ph 6. I checked the water I am adding, it is 7.6 at the moment with zero hardness. Fish are fed daily about 6 cichlid pellets each. What could be sending it so acidic?
My community tank comes in at Ph 7.5
:confused:
 
What size is the tank?

You probably need to test your KH (alkalinity). If it's low this can lead to pH crashes like you describe. This is especially relevant in a heavily stocked, high bio-load tank as the bacterial de-nitrification process consumes KH.

Have a read of this article http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

Can you post a close-up photo of the worms on your fish.
 
Dont seem to have much luck with the photography. The tank is approx 300L. (A wide 4 footer, not sure on the gallon conversion) KH is Hardness isn't it? Our local town water is membrain filtered & then treated with UV. No chemicals but is really soft. Doesn't even measure on the scale. Local pet shop this morning suggested puting in some coarse shell grit as a buffer. Since the last water change dont seem to be as many of the worm things. Just a couple left on the side fin.
 
If the worms are attached to the fish it would suggets they are parasitic - maybe anchor worms?

If your local water is very soft then yes, it's likely to have very little buffering capacity. In which case buffering with bicarb, crushed oyster shell or coral would be helpful.

Water chemistry is quite complex to understand initially - I found the following list of articles very useful - http://www.dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/FishInfo.html
Scroll down to the section on water quality especially the info on pH, GH, KH, use of bicarbonate of soda and oyster shells etc.
Guaranteed to keep you busy for a while!
 
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