HELP!!! I'VE BEEN ATTACKED BY LITTLE WHITE WORMS!!!!

[merk175]

Had a suspicion that my community tank had some type of parasite. The fish seemed to be trying to shake something off of them. I have 6 adult discus in a 60 gallon BB tank. Water conditons: 85 degrees, 0 nitrates, 0 ammonia PH approx. 7.1. This tank has been set up with discus for years. I decided to treat the tank with quick cure. Did a 50% WC and treated with QC. About a half hour later, I turned the light back on to check on the fish and found a million little white worms floating in the tank and laying on the bottom. They are still alive and are about 1/4 " long. About a half hour later, I looked again and see that the majority of them are gone! Still many floating in the water column and on the bottom but nothing like it was a half hour before.

Couple questions:

1. What the heck are they?
2. Are they harmful to my discus?
3. Have they all gone back into the filter or are they on the fish? I looked and cannot see them on either.
4. How the heck can I get rid of them?

I do regular WC every day (perhaps 20-25% a day). Yesterday I did a 33% WC and a 50% WC today and the tank is infested with them!..

[jimg]

They are most likely harmless worms (forgot name of them), they will multiply in dirty tanks, changing water is fine but my guess is you have gravel substrate. vacuum it very thoroughly every couple days for a while and keep filter clean vacuum all excess food and they will go away. you could use a wormer but see how the qc does, i never used it for them.

[merk175]

it's a bare bottom tank...no gravel. I did a big WC (50%) right before I treated the tank with quick cure. half hour later i had a million worms floating and on the bottom. Now most of them are gone. Where did they go? I'm not gonna get rid of them with water changes....

[TNT77]

it's a bare bottom tank...no gravel. I did a big WC (50%) right before I treated the tank with quick cure. half hour later i had a million worms floating and on the bottom. Now most of them are gone. Where did they go? I'm not gonna get rid of them with water changes....
Inside your filters...try a nice good cleaning of the inside of your filter. :)

[jimg]

Inside your filters...try a nice good cleaning of the inside of your filter. :)+1 fish may have eaten the ones that disappeared

[Darrell Ward]

Planaria. Harmless worms that thrive on rotting, uneaten food in the tank. Improve tank hygiene, cut back on feeding so much at once, and they will go away on their own.

[jimg]

Planaria. Harmless worms that thrive on rotting, uneaten food in the tank. Improve tank hygiene, cut back on feeding so much at once, and they will go away on their own. Darrell I though these worms had another name but I cannot find it, bugging me! planaria are flatworms. I know a lot of people call them planaria, but I thought they are something else.

[Mannie Bothans]

Some call them "Nematodes"

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/40061-whats-bug-how-recognize-them.html

[jimg]

nematode is just a name for round worms, there is a name for the little white ones....I'll find it!

[Skip]

Some call them "Nematodes"

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/40061-whats-bug-how-recognize-them.html

Nematodes are bad, live inside host body, round worms

Planaria are not harmful.. Jus.there due to dirty tank

thank u

[MostlyDiscus]

Maybe bristle worms? Either way clean the filter. Ed

[ericatdallas]

I have them in my shrimp tanks... I don't have them in my tanks with plecos... that's all I know.

[Mannie Bothans]

nematode is just a name for round worms, there is a name for the little white ones....I'll find it!

Great. I'd love to know what they are really called. I had a small tub that I used to QT some incoming plants one time and the dead matter on the plants were infested with these little creatures. I also had a friend who had these pouring out of the filter in his shrimp tank. I'm actually quite thrilled to know that these can't infest fish because I'm sure fish eat them.

[Orange Crush]

Hydra???

[merk175]

well I'm doing big WC every day and yesterday squeezed both sponge filters out in the tank water several times. Woke up this morning and now my water is very cloudy. whats up with that???

[Skip]

well I'm doing big WC every day and yesterday squeezed both sponge filters out in the tank water several times. Woke up this morning and now my water is very cloudy. whats up with that???

bacterial bloom?!

maybe you squeezing out both sponges, have overloaded the bio filter and cause mini cycle.. have you check ammonia levels?

[Mrylln]

these worms are in most filters, doing the worthy job of helping to break down solid wastes so there is ammonia for the filter to process. They are seen in the glass or in the water when they are distuprbed or there isn't enough to eat in the filter ( not the case here.)
they are killed by many medications, but that is a by-product of using the meds on other problems. I wouldn't use meds just for the planaria. (which show up in a couple of forms. Some look like tiny water snakes, others slide around on the glass.) They are harmless until something causes a die-off, when their little corpses scare the bejaysus out of a conscientous discuskeeper.
the cloudiness in the tank is likely from the filters, and will clear upa in a day or so, unless it is a bacterial bloom, in which case, the tank will clear with micron filtration or may require treatment with antibiotics. Better to let it settle and see.

[SeaDragon]

This thread is so helpful! Good knowledge to know


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[Trier20]

I bought some refugium mud for my sump and it hosted a few of these guys. I was concerned so I took it into my LFS and they looked at it under a microscope and said they are harmless. I can't remember the name they told me off the top of my head either!


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