1000's of small white worms

[Patr1ck]

I have thousands of small(1mm to 2mm) white worm looking creatures moving around on the glass. Are they planaria? Any danger to the discus?

Thanks,
Pat

[judy]

yeah, that'd be planaria. no danger to the discus, but always an indicator of overfeeding and not enough WCs.

[Eddie]

Yup Pat, planaria. A good way to get them under control, is to wipe everything down real good before a water change so the worms will free float and be sucked out. They do not harm the fish at all but it is a good idea to get them under control.

Eddie

[Patr1ck]

yeah, that'd be planaria. no danger to the discus, but always an indicator of overfeeding and not enough WCs.

I change 90% a day. However, the magnet on the impeller of the filter became detached from the impeller itself and the output of the filter dropped significantly. I had to run the tank with only an airstone for a couple of days while I was letting the glue/silicone fully cure. During that time the water became really cloudy and gross. It probably happened then. Out of curiousity where do the worms come from in the first place? The tap water?

Thanks,
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Hi Pat,
If you look closely at your fish...you'll sometimes see them on the fish..Thats one way they get into a tank... others probably include the fish foods we feed... As stated ...they are not harmful, and can really be numerous.... Since Planaria slide along tank surfaces...wiping them down helps.

Often times people don't realize how numerous they are as they love the insides of filters too....then something happens thats drives them out...lack of air flow through the filter bed, Formalin treatments etc.....next thing you know...the tanks full of them:)

Time to do a water change!

-al

[bs6749]

Just curious, by chance do you feed Tetra brand foods? I've heard that they often contain planaria and I can support this theory. I feed Tetra Microcrabs in my shrimp tanks and noticed planaria about a week after my first feeding, and this was before I knew about Tetra foods possibly containg them. I keep a close eye on my tanks and had never seen them until after feeding Tetra foods. Just some general information for you on a possible source.

[Patr1ck]

Just curious, by chance do you feed Tetra brand foods? I've heard that they often contain planaria and I can support this theory. I feed Tetra Microcrabs in my shrimp tanks and noticed planaria about a week after my first feeding, and this was before I knew about Tetra foods possibly containg them. I keep a close eye on my tanks and had never seen them until after feeding Tetra foods. Just some general information for you on a possible source.

I feed a mix of things, one of them being Tetra Color Bits. I feed this in another tank but I dont have this problem in that tank. I dont think it has to do with the Tetra Color Bits.

Pat