Tine little white worms swimming

[Filip]

I dont now if this is the right section to post this question , but i will try it here .

couple of times especcialy during the WC i can spot one or two (until now) tiny little white worms swimming in the middle of aquarium .
They are like 2-4 mm (thats one tenth of an inch to a one fifth of an inch ) completly straight like a line , no head , no thicker part of body just like little very thin line.
They swimm franaticly sort of like a spermatosoids do :) in this fashion SISISISIS.

What are they? are they dangerous?
I have never seen a worm like this in my aquarium in my 20 years of fishkeeping.

[DJW]

If you just switched over to sand maybe there are some left? I see those once in a while in tanks that have dirty substrate. I think they come in with new plants and reproduce in the gravel and filter. Mine are harmless but I don't like to see them.

My other hobby is telescopes, and the eyepieces are good for looking at the glass. If you have a good magnifier like that you can look at the glass down by the top of the substrate and sometimes you see whats living there. Hydra, various worms.

I have been tempted to use Paraguard on things like this, but hate to medicate unless there is a problem with the fish.

[Filip]

They are not planaria nor detrius worms ,ive seen those in my past,but thesse are different kind.
And yes i switched recently from dirty gravel to sand,but it confuses me that they swim freely in water column ,not in the gravel.
My only concern is if they are harmlles to discus health?

[warblad79]

I used to have those in my tank due to lack of water change and over feeding. They seem harmless to the fish but not the eggs. But I hate to see them in my tanks because it's looks awful and they crawl in the tank.

[dprais1]

when Itreated my bare bottom tank with PP I discovered they were living in my filters. I knew this because the PP killed them and I had hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of these dead worms floating in the water.

[vectex]

Funny I just noticed that I have them as well yesterday in my 75 G tank! I have BB tank so not sure how to get rid of them. I have been doing 98% water changes but they still hang around. Guess i would have to try PP but afraid due to lack of experience.

[vectex]

Aaannnnddd as always stated a search will yield results. Seems that its Planaria and it comes from feeding too much! Yikes!

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?114053-White-Bugs-on-the-tank-wall&highlight=white+worms

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/planaria

[Filip]

I do 80%daily and vacuum the sand daily.
Yesterday i cleaned my canister and a powerhead filter and i didnt noticed any. I doubt that i have hunderts of them,as i can only spot just one or two in a moment.
At first i thought they were discus related ,gut expelled worms,but its good to hear that they are not some kind of intestinal worms.

[dprais1]

All I can say is I never knew I had any, never saw even one until I treated with PP. Not saying you should treat with PP, just saying that you will probably see hundreds as well.

[DJW]

When I had those worms I figured they were non-parasitic nematodes that will go swimming like little snakes when you disturb the filter or the substrate.

[Filip]

At least i ease my mind knowing that they are not directly affecting fish health, and that im not the only one to have them in the tank.
Thanks for replies.

[Keith024]

OK guys I have them too in my tank and I am currently doing a fishless cycle, i frist used a couple of frozen shrimps and then subsequently changed to ammonium chloride.

Now today I did a water change and spotted a few floating around wrigling like crazy in the water. I have sand a very thin layer like 1/2 inch and today I disturbed it a bit when syphoning the bottom today. The aquarium has barely been 17 days filled with water. how could it be I already have them?

I think I must have got them from the filter media I got from the breeder I am planning to buy the fish from.

Most probably they are harmless as you guys are saying however I don think it is something nice to have worms floating around in your tank :( Is there something I could treat them with to get rid of them? What is PP you were referring to please?

I got quite a few floating around in the water and NOT on the tank glass.

[Keith024]

This is very similar to what I have however mine are smaller and less in number not easy to spot...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsY7j17lrAE

I think I have nematodes or detritus worms both should be harmless to the fish. However since I am not feeding the fish because I do not have fish yet, I wonder what these worms are feeding on?? Is it the ammonia I am putting in the tank for the fishless cycle? Maybe I have put some extra ammonia? On monday I may have exagerated a bit with the ammonia as it may have gone up to about 4 to 5ppm... now it has all gone down though.