Just did a water change. I have a 60 gallon sump filter below my tank. I always turn it off when I do a water change. Filled tank back up, turned it on and now I have thousands of little tiny white worms about an 1/8th to a 1/4 inch long and of microscopic diameter swimming around in my tank. I have seen one or two in the past and didn't make a big deal about it, but now there are literally thousands. My fish are going crazy running around and eating them, I hope they wont hurt them, cause at this point they have each eaten 100's of them. I'm not 100% certain that they are comming from the sump, I guess they could be comming from my substrate, but this is crazy!!!! Hope it's nothing more than a nice treat.
Little worms comming out of my filter
- Thread starter lucas2
- Start date
Went out for a couple hours, I just got back and all the worms are gone. Either got eaten or went back into the filter/substrate. Doesn't seem like any harm was done, just curious as to what they where and why they decided to come out during my water change?
Sounds like microworms or grindals depending on size, these aer harmless and pretty common. They are one of the best foods for very small fish and feeding fry that I have ever seen. They often colonize filters and feed on the partly broken down fish waste there. They act like earthworms in the garden, breaking down waste and opening up flow channels through the media.
Under magnification they look like tiny white earthworms. Great stuff and not a problem. I used to take out small pads from my filters that were carrying these and swirl them around in the guppy tanks then watch the guppies gorge themselves.
Under magnification they look like tiny white earthworms. Great stuff and not a problem. I used to take out small pads from my filters that were carrying these and swirl them around in the guppy tanks then watch the guppies gorge themselves.
Thanks for the info. I pretty much figured they must be harmless. When I got home last night, they were all gone. Either eaten or went back to where they came from. I just wonder what made them decide to come out? I had the filter off for about 2 hours while I changed the water. Could the lack of current through the sump cause them to move towards the pump? Second possibility is temp change. My heaters are in the sump, so when I turn the pump off, sump stays at 80 degrees. I changed aprox 200 gallons out of 300 with cold tap water, which brought tank temp down to about 72. So when I turned the pump back on, sump got temp shocked with 8 degree colder water. Could that cause them to freak out?