Aquatic Worms....

Lonewolfblue

Lonewolfblue

Superstar Fish
#1
Jun 5, 2006
1,283
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0
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Wenatchee, WA
www.nw-wolf.com
#1
I got home from work and found something that resembles an earthworm or red wiggler in my tank. Here's some pics. Am I correct? Stretched out is about 2 inches.





Well, I was looking in my tank, and not only do I have the 1, but 2 more as well, lol. 3 total. And they are very fast little buggers. Any ideas on exactly what they are? Are they just worms or something else? I've tried feeding the eels red wigglers before in another tank, and they don't move this fast.

aquatic worm

Class Oligochaeta

Aquatic Invertebrates

I have 2 cocoons on my cryts.......





Well, it only took 2 or 3 days and the coccoons hatched, lol. I've got bunches of worms, lol. And one of the bigger ones, he swims along the bottom by flattening his body and swimming like a leech, then when he get's to where he wants to go, then he's round again, rooting around for food I believe.

I had these in my tank. I think they were hitchhikers on a plant. They are nasty little buggers, you can’t kill them and nothing will eat them. I tried loaches and various different fish and they all ignored them. There is no pesticide out there that will kill them and not your fish. I don’t know if they are harmful or not. I’m not sure if they affected my fish or not. I pretty much know they laid egg sacks on the base of my plants. They usually came out to feed whenever food was dropped in the tank. They are a flat work, kind of like a leech. They range in color from red to black and are about 1 to two inches long. I’ve seen them swimming in the tank also.

Here’s how to kill them: empty the tank and go brackish to almost 1.015 or higher for one week. Turn your gravel over every other day to bring them to the surface. Chlorine dip you plants to kill the egg sacks, the egg sacks are immune to salt dips. The little bustards hate salt and alcohol. I’ve had some survive a salt bath for three days. Usually salt kills them pretty quickly. I nearly destroyed my tank trying to remove them. I hope nobody ever gets these. You have only two choices, live with them or go nuclear.
Click to expand...
Well, this tank is actually algae free. It's never had it. 10G tank with 2 25W CF bulbs in this tank, and the plants are Wisteria, Sunset Hygro, some crypts, and another red plant that I have no clue what it is. Trying to bring it to life, as it was in sad shape when I got it from aquabid. Also got a little HC that's trying to get started as well, but with how everything has filled in, it's not spreading. I think I also have parrots feather in there too, but not real sure, they are just short stubs right now. The parent plant died off and I clipped off all the new growth that came from it with the roots and replanted all of them. It's a full, full tank, and no fish. Just dosing and have CO2 going into the HOB filter.

Edit:
Here's more pics....







Actually, the 2nd pic you posted there looks like it has a suction cup on it's head. That's not what mine looks like at all. It looks more like an earthworm or a red wiggler. Just smaller. And doesn't do any harm to the snails in the tank. and when looking closely, I don't see any eyes.

Edit:
I still don't see eyes, but I just saw one onthe glass. It's like it has suction cups on the head and tail, and walks across the glass, then goes back to swimming. Didn't realize how many I had, lol. Just in 1 short sitting, I saw about 7 all at the same time, lol.

For every worm you see there are at least 10 you don't see.
 

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