tiny white worms

[David N]

I came home today and discovered dozens of tiny white worms in my main tank. The worms are white, hair thin, approx 1/16" in length and stick to the glass. They don't move very quickly and usually appear to stay still. I've had these outbreaks a few times over the years but they never seem to cause the fish any problems.

I want to wipe them out. Manager at LFS store suggest use of a product called Paragon. This particular cocktail contains Dimethyl Phosphae, Nitrofurazone, NaCl, Isoniazid, Neomycin, and Kanamycin Sulfate. Is anybody familiar with this product?

For the curious, I think I introduced these critters when I added some philodendrons to the tank. I let the plants soak and rinse in clean water for 3 days but that probably wasn't enough. Goes to show, you gotta qt everything and anything that you're thinking about adding to a tank, not just the fish.

Any suggestions about these worms and/or the med I am considering would be greatly appreciated. Since the fish don't seem to be having any reaction at all, I'm going to wait a few days before starting tx in order to get more info.

Thanks,
David N

[Carol_Roberts]

Probably not from the philodendron. These scavenger worms are a symptom of overfeeding. Feed less, do extra water changes, wipe down the inside of the tank, rinse the filter boxes out and rinse filter media in dechlorinated water. Their numbers should diminish in a week or so. Formalin may help too.

[David N]

Thanks Carol,
I have been feeding them heavily. I've been getting some good growth out of them. I will follow your suggestions. Any experience with product I was recommended (Paragon).

David N

[David N]

BTW,
If these worms are scavengers due to overfeading where did they come from. This particular tank has been clean for quite some time without any problems and other than the plants I haven't added anything new since last November.

David N

[Carol_Roberts]

I don't know. Philodendron is terrestrial plant. Worms are aquatic

[rdeis]

I came home today and discovered dozens of tiny white worms in my main tank.

Sounds exactly like the ones I had come home with my 4 cheap discus. Only sign of problems I could see in the store was poor conditions and lethargic/stressed behavior. While floating them I saw that one appeared to have some sort of would/fungus problem, so we treated the lot of them with Melafix.

The next day, the tank walls were covered in tiny hair-like worms as you describe. At first I thought it was very fine algea blowing in the current, but then I noticed that some of them were moving about in different directions

Talked to a breeder (not the source of these fish), and he said that he gets them all the time with shipped fish, and that they don't seem to cause any problems (or even show up) unless the fish are stressed for some reason. He called them "threadworms"

Perhaps you've had them all along and they're normally benign, but they "bloom" in cetain conditions? Anyway:

He reccomended treating with heat and salt-- I can get the particular type of salt- and they were all but gone in a few days.

We'll retreat according to the directions this week to finish them off.

[rdeis]

We *think* they are some variety of skin fluke.

Treatment salt is a product called "Parasite Guard", and the tank is running at 93*F.

[David N]

Hi Rdeis,
I'm not sure that you're describing the same thing I have. The worms a have are short (~1mm). After speaking with a couple of people I think they are called planaria. If the worms you have are about 3/8" long then they are definately a different problem. I had an outbreak of those when I was still using gravel bottoms. I could never get rid of them until I went to bb tanks. I wish I could post a picture but both types of worms are too small to show up on my digital camera.

In either case it seems that keeping things really clean is half the battle and the solution.

David N

[rdeis]

Mine vary in length- the major ourbreak was 1-2mm, but I spotted one today that was closer to 3/8, and haven't seen any smaller ones for several days.

Not sure if they're grown up or different things. Lotsa water changes...