parasites...worms in tank???

[tameem]

I noticed tonight in my tank that we are trying to cycle for at least one month now these few very small, wormlike creatures moving around. they are not long, small, and 1/4 in maybe
what the heck are these????? do we need to throw out the entire tank and get a new tank?? i never noticed this before when we first setup the tank

 

[Kissyboots]

Do a forum search on "white worms." I started a thread too, only after that did I do a search (silly me!) I have worms in ALL my tanks and I took one out and put it under the microscope. Look disgusting but they don't seem to be bothering anyone. I believe my betta ate some...uh...he's still alive...

 

[tameem]

but where did these worms come from??? i was concerned that they were maybe parasites or something?? im afraid to introduce fish to my tank if these things are floating around. they look like they are quickly twisitng their body as they move and I can actaully count how many there are.

anyone else have any thoughts?? thesse things not only are distrurbing but scarying me.
i did a search, disapointed to find not much out there. I saw a posting about plana worms and im not sur eif this is it
I will say that i had this tank setup a month before and never saw this, BUT, recently I did a water change and then added for the first time stress zyme.

they have to have come from somewhere....

 

[tameem]

well maybe these are small flatworms, or planarians. Most article say they are harmless and exist due to overfeeding, but I have no fish in the tank and im trying to fishless cycling, so i am only feeding the tank ammonia.

im surprised i havent read anyone else to have this while cycling...

any ideas???

 

[FroggyFox]

Really nothing to worry about especially since you're still cycling.

 

[nobody]

I had worms like that for a while as well when I started my tank. My fish loved to eat them. I think if I remember correctly I was over feeding a bit, but where you have no fish in the tank at the moment, I'm kind of stumped. All can really say is FroggyFox is right, don't worry about them, if they're anything like I had they're pretty much harmless.

 

[Dan Steveo]

they are called planaria. i had them with my tank when i started it up. i came on here and asked and found them in a book too. they are no harm. just more food for your fish. and a sign of overfeeding as the people before me said. i had them with my swordtail fry. they are fine.

 

[tameem]

thanks for ur replies. all i know is we are all getting the heebie jeepies with this stuff in our tank. i just wonder where it came from as I didnt hagve it before, until i added 10lbs of gravel.

apparently they feed off food due to overfeeding, but in my case, what food are they feeding on since im cycling the tank?
I wonder if I have too much gravel in my tank, its about 60lbs so about 2.5" deep. i just want to understand how it happened.

 

[tameem]

i notcied today there were some parasites on all of my decorations, just everywhere! I think i know where they came from. I got two decorations from a tank from a pet shop and perhaps thats how I introduced the problem.

So I added CopperSafe to get rid of parasites. What's the best way to eradicate these worms?? help please

is it just easier to remove all the water, and add regular tap water to kill???

 

[tameem]

ok I think I have two things going on.
I did have these ugly little worm like creatures, only a few in the tank. I added CopperSafe the other day and today I noticed they aren't around anymore, I can see a few dead.

I also noticed that the greyish type stuff that I thoguht were another type of worms on all level surfaces of the decorations are NOT worm, but some greyish type of particular...
I can only think that the Stress Zyme taht I added a week ago or so has caused this, as I have not seen this before prior to stress zyme
Anyone have any ideas????

Also, i checke dmy ammonia reading and no difference whatsoever..its still about the same and its been maybe 2 weeks at least since I have been trying to fishless cycle (and even longer before I replaced the water)

 

[Dan Steveo]

hmmm. this is a confusing case. the worms at first from the description im sure were planaria. were you putting food into the tank? the other stuff i have never heard of..the slime. maybe it was the stress zyme. if you have no fish in there. why add stress zyme? in my opinion fish cycles are easier. just 2-4 hardy fish and you're settled.

i hope it all works out for you...


Dan.

 

[tameem]

today a fellow at a LFS who seemed to know a lot said, just put in a goldfish for now. he also gave me something to nuetralize the ammonia, as well as a small bottle of this bacteria for freshwater. he said it really is comparable to biospira. and in a week I can bring back the goldfish.

We have I think algae, grey particles laying on decorations and he was gonna give me a bushy nose catfish for no charge, but I told him I had added CopperSafe to get rid of worms. he said the catfish is highly suspectible to copper so its best to go with the goldfish.

 

[tameem]

today a fellow at a LFS who seemed to know a lot said, just put in a goldfish for now. he also gave me something to nuetralize the ammonia, as well as a small bottle of this bacteria for freshwater. he said it really is comparable to biospira. and in a week I can bring back the goldfish.

We have I think algae, grey particles laying on decorations and he was gonna give me a bushy nose catfish for no charge, but I told him I had added CopperSafe to get rid of worms. he said the catfish is highly suspectible to copper so its best to go with the goldfish.

and no I never added food, only ammonia one time.

 

[Sarah1]

This is a late responds, but never signed up any earlier. But I think you did get the Planaria for worms, I had some in one of my little tanks, because my fish was used to floating pellets and I had to feed him sinking ones, he got confused and I think I completely overfed, so there they started to jiggle on my glass. Buyt since I had plenty more tanks I just tookt the fish out, and didn't feed anymore, and then did waterchanges, cause I didn't want to lose the cycled water. With every water change I had less and less worm wigglers on my windows.
I think I have only put chemicals in my tanks for the first little while, and then stopped when I didn't see a difference in not doing it anymore.
Anyhow, I think in your case it is totally possible that they were stuck on something, may be gravel, or your Plants, I mean it takes what like two little mini things to infest your Tank right?
I think a good practice to do before putting anything in a tank is to boil everything before, get every bacteria off. Like who knows, maybe someone bought something after they had it in their Tank, and then returned it and shwoops there you go , you got infested with some weirdness.
This is the only thing I could think of that happened in your case, since you are not feeding anything, maybe some food from he previous owner got stuck in your plants, and never got removed form the plants, and TATA Wormlers here we are!
The slime, hmm, not so sure, may be it is algea from the light? Like sunlight. If you don't have any hair algea heaters in your Tank then you might get that. But I could not be sure, just a suggestion.
Well I know I was late. But may be it will halp anyway.

Take care for now.

Sarah1

 

[midmichman80]

I always through pennies into my tank, sounds odd but the copper will kill any invertabrae. Not a good idea if you have snails or crabs/lobster. Just clean the penny like you would any tank decoration and throw them in. I had some smaller wormlike creatures in my tank before I did this, and I haven't seen them since. It is a small price to pay to get rid of them.