White Worms in my Water! Ack!

[Grymatta]

Help! There seems to be a sudden infux of these strange tiny white worms in my tank! I see most of them clinging to the walls of my tank. My dwarf gourami doesnt seem to be eating them.

What are they? Has anyone else had this problem?

Are they..mosquito larvae? The surface of the water isnt still cause of the filter pump so it sholdnt be a breeding ground for mosquitos. I havent introduced any new plants or fish in the last few weeks...so what could they be?

and how do i get rid of them?

thanks!

 

[derajer]

Could you possibly post a picture? Or maybe give some more description? There are so many different types of "white worms" that can occur in aquariums.

The most common types of white worms are Enchytraeus, which many people feed to their fish, and Planaria worms. The former dislike light and are extremely unlikely to occur in a tank. Planaria worms on the other hand are fairly common pests that, like many other problems, occur when there is too much food in that tank.

 

[Lotus]

It sounds like planaria to me. There are some pics of various bugs here: http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=33

The best way to control planaria is to not overfeed and do regular gravel vacuuming. You could do some extra gravel cleanings to help get rid of them.

 

[Grymatta]

the worms look like tiny white strings which wiggle around the tank walls.

thanks for the link lotus,...they kinda look like the pics in there. But they are much smaller than the pics..they are about 1 or 2mm long. I dont see the triangular heads on these worms of mine. They are totally white. I read the brief on it and I do have shrimps that have molted recently. Perhaps they are spawned by the molted exoskeletons in my tank?

I'll try to do more gravel vacs and maybe get one of those mag algae cleaners to wipe them off my tank.

I think the worms might have been attacking my dwarf gourami cause I noticed some abrasive rough/whitish spots on his fins! He's also very aggressive lately..attacking my amano shrimps(which are about the same size as him).


I will also try to reduce feeding. I only feed once a day already but maybe I'll limit it to just one flake or two.

 

[Grymatta]

ok..the white worms have totally infested my tank now. I did a wc and vac yesterday and now the water is stirred up. The worms are EVERYWHERE!

Its so bad it looks like its snowing in my tank water!

Is there anything I can do to kill them off?

 

[kindaconfused]

I'm sorry. That's really gross and if I could help I would. I'm not an expert but wouldn't it work to just clean out the tank? Ask around because I really have no idea.

 

[svetlana]

I had a lot of worms after melafix treatment. Today - no worms, add melafix - next morning worms are crawling everywhere. Do not panic, b/c after some water changes they go away. Diagnosis - too many organic material in your water.

 

[dss2004]

Stop feeding for a few days and your fish will probably start eating these guys up, once they notice them. It will also give you a chance to re-think your feeding regimn. Remeber sparingly is the get word. Just what a few days before feeding. Perform some water changes mixed with gravel vacs and your problem should clear up in a few weeks. Remember these guys show up when there is too much food.

 

[Grymatta]

yeah I asked my LFS guy and he said that it was cause theres too much organic nutrients in the water.

I reduced feeding to juist one flake per day and most of the worms seemed to have disappeared. I think the majority are on the gravel dead so the next time I do a WC it might be gross.

There are a few survivors wiggling on the glass but hopefully they will die out.

thanks for the support guys!