Worms/Nematodes reproducing in tank?

[tjd]

I noticed some 2-3mm "worms" crawling on the glass in a 10gal tank that has been fishless for just over a week. The tank previously held some Ram fry that were raised to about 1" on BBS, flake foods, frozen bloodworms, and frozen spiralina enriched brineshrimp. I never used and don't have any "worms" such as microworms or vinegar eels.

They have a whitish appearance and seem to be closer to the top with some floating in the water column. I am trying to figure out what they are and how they could have gotten into the tank.

I wish I could get a picture, but I don't have a camera that can capture them due to their size.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Woody]

Those little white worms usually come through the city water system. Nice water we drink hey. They thrive when their are lots of nutrients in the water for them to feed off of.
I just had a break out in one of my aquariums and the best of all they are so easy to get rid of, wipe the glass down with a cloth and do some regular water changes 25 to 35% every second day or so and they will completely disappear in a week or so.

A nusiance but not a problem

 

[mummymonkey]

Sounds like planaria.

 

[fishgeek]

i'd vote planaria too and more likely they came with fish or plants

andrew

 

[tjd]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments. Had not thought about them being planaria. In my experience with planaria (school biology classes) they were always larger and proportionately wider. If they came in with the fish or plants then the ram fry were keeping their numbers to a minimum. Only thing that has gone in the tank within the last 4 months without being disinfected has been RO/DI water and the food.

I wonder what the planaria's nutritional value is being the fry seemed to have been eating them.

 

[mooman]

The species of planaria in our tanks is probably different from the ones we saw in bio class. In any case, I think they are probably a bi-product of the heavy feeeding we engage in during fry rearing. I have noticed hydra in tanks where I am using bbs as fry food (where there were none before).

 

[apistodave]

Guys I dont know which ones they are but there is a small 2-3cm white worm that sometimes just floats in the water and wriggles and sometimes it crawls along the bottom. this guy is bad-I have seen it attack wrigglers and eggs. Any white worms like that I see I get rid of them and usually bleaching is the cure. I am on a well and I know they arent coming in through my water supply.

 

[tjd]

After some further research, I am rather confident they are planaria based upon their movements, size, physical discription and pictures I found. Additionally/unfortunately, they ravaged the eggs from two Aggie spawns recently.

Several of my tanks have them now. Usually I keep rather strict isolation between my tanks and have not had a problem with then in the past. Recently I changed the brand of frozen bloodworms that were being fed. Is it likely or possible they are being introduced by this new food?

Tom

 

[apistodave]

ravaged is a good word--you need to zap em!!!!!!!

 

[fishgeek]

certain medications praziquantel(found in drontal dog wormer and i found a link to rocky mountain discus prazipro)flubendazol etc will kill these
things

i believe clout has been advocated and dont know what is in clout

starvation and gravel cleaning with regular water changes

some natural predators- mst live bearer fry , most bottom feeders would seem likey , though i have no experience perhaps becasue i have lots of cory?

best of luck andrew

most foods now days are gamma irradiated so not very likley that they came that way

 

[apistodave]

My flubendazol didnt work on them

 

[tjd]

Hey guys thanks for the advice. I found that using salt helped cut back on them although it did not eliminate them all together (also I only added salt to certain tanks/fish). One of my LFS has some prazipro that I may try for some of my other tanks, if/when I try it I'll let you know how it works. The Ram and Aggie fry once they were a couple weeks free swimming started eating them as well.


Thanks again,
Tom

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

I had them in one of my tanks. I read an article that said if you scrub the glass down and then vacuume the gravel, over a course of seven days they will disappear. I gave it a shot and it worked. I haven't had any worms in three weeks. I hope I didn't just jinks myself!