My fish tank got small white small worms???

[joseph9192]

i just wash my whole tank n fill the water in...after 1 days...i saw some white long worms swimming happily inside...then some small ones sick at da walls....

any idea?? is the tap water got problem or other problems??
any medicine or thing can kill those worms??

thx,this is my 1st post =]

[joseph9192]

my tank is 50 liter...

[Chad Hughes]

Welcome to SD!

Your white worm issue is likely planaria.

If you have substrate in your tank or any other porus objects such as wood, rocks, plants, etc. Planaria will take up residence and likely never leave.

These worms are harmless. Tank maintenance and water changes typically keeps their numbers in check.

Hope that helps!

[peterhql]

a small group of tetras, like cardinals will also help. After I added some, the tiny worms were no longer visible on my tank walls.

[DerekFF]

Not to hijack the thread here, same topic, but are there different kinds of planaria? I seem to have the typical little white worms in my shrimp tank, but also there are some little white flea looking guys. Very small, white to transluscent and they wall crawl and then sometimes can be seen shooting across the tank like little fleas. So are there different kinds of planaria or is this something else?

[peterhql]

I had those as well in another tank. I believe they are copepods. (good or bad who knows) I treated with clout, but they came back. My cardinal tetras got rid of those as well.

-Peter

[DerekFF]

Ah i didnt know copepods could be freshwater, thought they were just saltwater. Thanks for the info, ill do a google search for copepods and see if they are indeed freshwater dwellers also

[joseph9192]

thx all...

[joseph9192]

i hope my new tetras will mix well with discus....

[joseph9192]

but will da tetras eat da disus food?? i feed discus with worms n sometimes sinking granules...

[tbone83]

yep add some tetras they will happly eat live worms

[aalbina]

I haven't seen either of the two types of planaria I use to have (there are several types), nor any copepods since I quarantined and then added a school of rummy nose tetras. I learned they were harmless - but the were disconcerting to say the least.

Adam

[DerekFF]

Just an note to all who have read/taken interest in this thread, Copepods can indeed live in salt or fresh water (new to me!) apparently they come from other plants that you order or driftwood.

[noobF1]

Had the same problem. Just do water change about 50% for about 3-5 days it should be gone. It worked for me. Good luck! Ohh and whip down the inside wall for each water change. Cut down on the feeding. :)

[lwilsonharris]

This thread helped a bunch I just setup my aquarium almost two weeks ago and waiting for the fishless cycle to run it's course and just last night noticed the tiny white worms. I'm guessing they could have came from three different places: A) Driftwood I purchased B) Live plants C) Activ-Flora substrate or all three. At any rate I'm in the cylce period and don't want to do a water change until the cycle is complete. Only about two more weeks and my aquarium will be a discus haven.

[fishorama]

Planaria (stuck on glass), stylaria (swimming with an "s" shaped wiggle) & copepods (oval shrimp-like critters) are all harmless for the most part but can be a sign of overfeeding or undercleaning. I have stylaria in my potted plants & am horrified every water change I see them. I don't have them in any other than my discus tank, they're just creepy (& a part of normal tank fauna but...) Ugh, I want them gone to make ME feel better, fish don't mind.