i have small tiny worms that are about the sizE of blood worms but arent black or red and i never fed live worms in my tank be4. they seem harmless but they reporudce a lot and it just doesnt seem right to have worms in ur tank can anyone identify what it is? i dont think my picture skills will capture the worms. ive had it in my tank for a month nothing has died.... i used ick remover and they went away but recently came back again... anyone know how these come around in a tank?
small tiny worms
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Sounds like planaria to me if they are whitish in color. Main causes are overfeeding and poor tank maintenance.
Planaria are indeed harmless and your fish will eat them however their presence is best avoided by doing proper tank maintenance and avoid feeding too much.
Planaria are indeed harmless and your fish will eat them however their presence is best avoided by doing proper tank maintenance and avoid feeding too much.
Are they round in cross section? smooth or segmented like bloodworms or tubifex?
What do you feed with and do you have any pond raised or wild caught fish?
There are a lot of types of planaria but they are usually pale and not usually bigger than a centimeter, often even smaller.
There are a lot of nematodes that parasitise insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. Many of them are host specific, so the ones that came from an insect won't hurt the fish. Others go from one host to another, an example would be one that lives in shrimp for part of the cycle, but breeds in the guts of fish. They are pretty common.
If you think that might be the problem you can use an antihelminic like fenbendazole, metronidazole, levamisole, or others, Jungle makes a fizzy tab called Parasite Clear that is supposed to be pretty good though I have not used it myself.
What do you feed with and do you have any pond raised or wild caught fish?
There are a lot of types of planaria but they are usually pale and not usually bigger than a centimeter, often even smaller.
There are a lot of nematodes that parasitise insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. Many of them are host specific, so the ones that came from an insect won't hurt the fish. Others go from one host to another, an example would be one that lives in shrimp for part of the cycle, but breeds in the guts of fish. They are pretty common.
If you think that might be the problem you can use an antihelminic like fenbendazole, metronidazole, levamisole, or others, Jungle makes a fizzy tab called Parasite Clear that is supposed to be pretty good though I have not used it myself.
yes i think u guys are right. i assume it is planaria by the description u guys say it seems harmless... i feed it smelt and there is sometimes left overs. will salt help remove them. it doesnt seem like they are doin anything to my fish it just disgust me that i hvae worms in my tank
I'm using Cupramine from Seachem to get rid of them. It's a pain to do it but you need to remove everything in your tank except your fish and air stones. I also removed all the media from my AC500. I left it on to move the water around. BTW, I did lose 2 fish to aggression.
Most planaria are resistant to fairly strong levels of salt, cleanliness and lack of hiding places are the best way to get rid of planaria, scuds help to butb seldom stay uneaten long enough to do so
A type of FW amphipod, mainly detritus eatersso they not only out compete for food with planaria, they also eat them. They get about 1/3"-3/4" depending on species and most fish over 4 times thier length will eat them, esp. cichlids.fsc46;646238;646238 said:
who sells them? Someone could put an under gravel filter on top of the gravel for a week or two. Or put egg crate from Home Depot an inch or two off the bottom to keep them safe.
A lot of biological supply houses sell them like this one www.carolina.comfsc46;647264;647264 said: