So in one of our tanks we have these nasty little white worms, they don't bother the shrimp, but they look disgusting and they are multiplying, anyone know how to get rid of them or what they are? They have little arrow-like heads and crawl on the glass...yuk!help!
white nasty worms (that sound so bad)
- Thread starter ballsmcgee1234
- Start date
They are planaria. They are not dangerious in any way but are a good indication that you should cut down on feeding and clean the tank more. That should take their population down some. Depending on what fish you have you could even get a paradise fish, they eat em up like the are going out of style.
ballsmcgee1234 said:
They on your Glass ? If so it's Flat worm they develop with poor filtration and feed on the amount of waste that builds up in the bottom of your tank.
To rid your tank of this little parasite which IS harmless to your fish you would need better filtration ! Also try feeding your fish less only give them what they will eat in one sitting!
http://www.mcwdn.org/Animals/Flatworm.html
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1968&articleid=2811
this is what they look like, they are in our shrimp tank, and it's damn near impossible to clean the gravel. It's a 55 gal, there's baby amano's and red cherry's in there. we cleaned the gravel once, it took us over five hours to do 1/2 the tank because we had to get all the shrimp that were sucked out. we only put about a 1/4 a bucket of water in a five gal bucket and everytime we ended up scooping like 20 plus shrimp out. the shrimp are the sizes from . to __ at the max. It really sucks, so if you have any idea to save us the time let me know.sandtiger said:They are planaria. They are not dangerious in any way but are a good indication that you should cut down on feeding and clean the tank more. That should take their population down some. Depending on what fish you have you could even get a paradise fish, they eat em up like the are going out of style.
They are not parasites.
Clean your tank better and more often, they will go away. They are present because there is a large amount of detridus for them to feed on.
They are harmless but an indicator of a dirty enviroment.
Clean your tank better and more often, they will go away. They are present because there is a large amount of detridus for them to feed on.
They are harmless but an indicator of a dirty enviroment.
Just let the rotting process take care of the left over food. The main thing is frequent water change. Less with more frequency often accomplishes the same as 50% bi-weekly. It's your preference. No need to siphon the gravel because rotifers which are microscopic bacteria would take care of that in time. I have a billion snails in my planted tank that eats all the left over food. I bet they also live in the undergravel filter. The planaria will clear up in time. Frequent water change without siphoning the gravel is sufficient. I mean you only have those tiny shrimps in there, I doubt they crap a whole lot. Let us know 
Careless post for me. Too tired.
Careless post for me. Too tired.
Well there goes my careless post. Sorry about that. I didn't think shrimp tanks requires that much care.sandtiger said:
to rid my 50g of them i just raised my tank temp a few degrees, fed less, and did more water changes and they cleared right up
If you can't do more gravel vacs, try a couple lyretail panchax, they are easy to find and keep and you can keep a few pairs in a 5-10g tank, just drop the young (they are live bearers) in with the shrimp, if the shrimp are not breeding you could put in a pair of adult pachax but they wqould munch baby shrimp. They are very salt tolerant and the adults only get around 2" including tails, they start breeding at 6 months, brred every 2 months, and live for three years. Their FAVORITE food is planaria and micro worms. $10 a mated pair from www.killiesource.com this pic is from them.
the scientific name is Aphyosemion australe
All that everyone has said about the flaiworms being planaria is true, the arrow shaped head gives it away and under enough magnification you can see their eyespots. they are harmless scavangers and excellent fry food.
the scientific name is Aphyosemion australe
All that everyone has said about the flaiworms being planaria is true, the arrow shaped head gives it away and under enough magnification you can see their eyespots. they are harmless scavangers and excellent fry food.