wilds and worms

I bought some young wild green discus(3) almost two weeks ago....right after purchasing them i did a full treatment of furan II(for gram negative and gram positive bacteria), and i've been treating them with salt and elevated temperature just to improve their eating, acclimate them, and hopefully accelerate any potential nasties....i decided today to move them to a different tank(the one they were in had a tinted bottom and was kindof dark) After moving them, I treated the empty tank with a large amount of PP for an hour to sterilize it...I noticed once i neutralized the PP that there was a very large amount of small thin worms(about 1/4 inch long) in piles all over the bottom of the tank...I kept this tank really clean so i doubt it's planaria...Any ideas???
they were still alive after an hour with a concentrated treatment of PP!!

[cgrim10]

well i'd guess fire is the next step?? lol
dang, if a good dose of pp didn't do it, i would tear it down and bleach it. and speed up the water changes, and wipe down the walls more often. i hate them wormy looking things. i have never seen one on the fish, just on the glass. i wonder if they inhabit the sponge? lots of people microwave sponges to kill nasties. hth cg

If you were to microwave a sponge, would it just kill the nasties, or would you be effectively killing the bio-filter also??

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, microwaving your sponges kills the good bacteria, PP does too.

Are these the little 1/4 inch worms that look like little snips of thread? IF yes, I had them when I used a canister filter. They are a sign of overfeeding. I think they were living in the filter.

I wonder if an anti- worm medicine like flubendazole might kill them without harming the biofilter? Otherwise you will have to use something like bleach or very hot water to kill them - don't forget the eggs.

Carol

Is it possible they are a sign of something else??? lol!! It was a quarantine tank...I just fed the fish what they could eat(no food hanging around) and I was doing large water changes...I'm just in the process of neutralizing my "overnight PP treatment" right now and I guess I'll see if that killed 'em...

[wildthing]

This is almost certainly planaria, the PP made them exit their hiding places in the sponge. DON:T PANIC
just keep vacuuming the tank, changing water & wiping the glass & soon 99.99% of them will dissappear.

PP is not really a very effective remedy for anything except as a stop -gap or temporary measure. The concentration needed to kill many bad bacteria will also kill the fish. It's action oxidizes biomass in the tank, including the Discus' slime coat, until it is exhausted .
It is a good indicator for bioload in the tank. the quicker the tank ( or a sample from ) turns from purple to brown the more a good water change is in order.

hth
DW

[Carol_Roberts]

Do planaria go through a stage where they are small thin worms(about 1/4 inch long). I though they were more of a roundish or rectangular shape?

Planaria do love to hide in the filters - any smooth surface.
Carol

thanks carol and davidw....everything you say makes sense...it was an empty tank by the time i was treating it...the 12 hr PP treatment seems to have killed everything(there were no fish in the tank at the time)

[wildthing]

Untergasser in 'Discus health' tells us that in order to sterilize a tank using PP it should be used for at least 3 days with a concentration that produces a visibility in the tank of a maximum of 15 cms ( about 6&quot
Isopropyl is much easier & quicker, 2 'rub-downs' are sufficient, followed by a good wash with clean water.

DW

that's interesting...i know of a few people who are using PP to sterilize their tanks after they've emptied them of fish...It definitely made a mess when i tried it for 16 hours, and "visibility" was down to almost nothing...I still had to clean the tank afterwards...

DW,

Untergasser also strongly suggests that if you're using isopropyl that you take the tank outdoors or at least place it by a window, neither being quick or easy in my fishroom. The fumes from the alcohol are highly flammable and should not be inhaled. They can also wreak havoc on a tank next to the one you're cleaning. Everything comes with risks and hassles.

I use PP for any tank that I'm emptying. These are just tanks that have the current inhabitants moved to another tank, not tanks that have had sickness or deaths. I add enough PP to make the tank very dark purple, you can't see 2" in that water. I leave it for about 4 hours and then add HP. Once it turns brown I stir it up really good so all of the PP is gone and then empty the tank. It doesn't make a mess unless you let the brown crap settle.

Dave