Planaria only in the filter?

[DerekFF]

I seem to have an explosion of planaria in just my sponge filter. Anyone else had this? no signs of them otherwise just squeezed out my filter and BOOM! thousands!!! Filter cleaning is a bi-daily event and ive never seen this many. ive been medicating with metro as i think they may have some worms (long clear/white stringy poop) Anyone experience this? They look like mosquito larva but dont twitch like them. These couldnt be a parasitic worm could they?

[William Palumbo]

Planaria are usually very small, and cover everything, especially the glass. If looks like mosquito larvae, maybe not planaria...especially just in the filter...Bill

[jball1125]

Cappilaria can cause the fish to poop out clear worm like strings. I would stop dosing metro until you figure out the problem. If it is capillaria its a faily easy fix with some vermisol (levamisole)

Do you have access to a scope? Do the worm like things move when you take them out of the water? If it is cappilaria these things wouldn't really move, they would only appear to be moving when they are in the water because of the current.

[brewmaster15]

planaria glide along surfaces..if they are free swimming they are not planaria....most likely a free swimming , non-parasitic worm if in the film, often called thread worms,or stylaria.

hth,
al

[DerekFF]

They do move, and they were NOT on the glass. I was staring into the tank before i did my bi-daily WC and everything looked normal. But when i went to squeeze out the sponge (its an older sponge now, maybe thats why?) TONS and i mean TONS of these little clear/white half the thickness of a needle and did move, but didnt swim all got squished out of the filter. I dont have scope access, they are more than big enough to see with the plain eye. But ive been treating for worms as im pretty sure a few of mine have them. (long white/clear stringy poop, less than what id like to see growth) This topic could i suppose be in disease, but im more so just trying to figure out what these little wormlike things are. THe discus didnt seem to mind them and they all swam around eating them up!

[jball1125]

OK then I would say they are most likely some harmless nematode. They usually appear when a tank is being over fed or poorly cleaned. Just keep clean and they should start to deminish. I would worry to much about it.