Small White Worms

[gilkm]

Hoping that someone could provide some info on this. I have a small 5 gallon tank that used to house a dwarf puffer. He died about a month ago, but I have left the filter and light on for the plants and snails that I have in the tank while I decide what I wan to do.

Well today, I turn on the light and I see these tiny little white worms swimming in the water. Any idea what these are? Do I need to add something to kill them? Do I need to drain the whole tank? I am planning on adding a beta soon, that is why I wanted to know.

 

[colettehodgson]

Sounds like Planaria http://www.voicenet.com/~ginette/planaria.htm I get them in my tank when Ive been a bit lazy with cleaning my subtrate. You shouldnt need to clear the whole tank, just do a reasonable water change, sucking up any loose worms you can find and be very thorough with your subtrate.

 

[tigerhouse]

Same question

I saw a couple of them in my 180 gallon tank. They look like tiny, white, free swimming earth worms with pointed heads and tails. They were swimming freely in the tank. They were about a quarter of an inch long and use an "S" shaped swimming pattern to swim. They do not look anything like a Planaria.

I saw them about three weeks ago. First thought were, and I am still thinking they are, some type a digestive tract parasite. I do feed feeder goldfish to my Oscar and Arowana and this is probably where they came from.
Within about 3 days of seeing these worms my 6” Farlowella died suddenly and week later my 3” Gold Nugget Plecostomus died. This is the 1st fish loss I’ve had in about the last two years. Right after the Farlowella died I began treating the tank with everything. I don’t know if the treatments killed the Plecostomus or not but I don’t so. Prior to both fish dieing they appeared healthy. The Farlowella was eating right to the day he died. Ever since I’ve owned the Gold Nugget Plecostomus (about a year) I never saw him actively eating.

I have 2 X 3” Chocolate Plecostomus, 7 other common plecos of different sizes in the tank and they appear to be doing well. Sorry no picture of the worms, I have not seen them since their visits a few weeks ago.

 

[eh1421]

planaria
do a water change
they are harmless to your fish but appear in poor water conditions

mike