White worms on tank glass

Hey all,

I recently set up a new tank for a talking catfish that had been snacking on my neons (any excuse for MTS), planted a few low light plants, added some driftwood and let it cycle for about 6 weeks.

Since I added the catfish I noticed yesterday that there were dozens of tiny little white worms crawling on the tank glass. They are mostly tiny, with a few reaching 1mm.

The only things I did recently where add a piece of driftwood (that had been soaking in a bucket outside for about 3 weeks - with the water changed regularly to leech out the tannins. And of course adding the fish.

Any ideas? Planarians? Good/bad/ignore? I can't post a pic -they're way too small.

Thanks,
Dane

 

I would think that something laid it's eggs in your bucket of water outside, and it has now hatched in your tank.

Not knowing what it is will be the major problem now... it could land up killing your entire tank, it could just get eaten. Just be careful not to transmit it to your other tanks. I'm sure you would prefer to keep it in one tank only.

 

Add a test subject guppy and see if the worms disappear.

Tip :always wash anything from outside with boiling water

 

it could be daphnia...just my two cents, do a google search on daphnia and check to see whether its the same thing...

 

Daphnia is not a worm...

 

Yeah, definitely not daphnia! I'm fairly certain its in the phylum Platyhelminthes - flatworms. I'll ship my lone guppy into the tank for cleanup. (my girlfriend if it dies tho, its here favourite....)

 

Hi Dane,

I have also just noticed some in one of my tanks!!

Did you find out if they are harmful at all>??

Cheers
G!

 

I've got the same thing... But there are also little insect type things as well as the worms... I'll stick a platty in and see if it disappears, otherwise I'll have to do an overhaul...

 

Although we all living in different places essentially most of us are in South AFRICA. Nature has no boarder control at your door step or windowsill.
There is no 100% way of keeping them out.
Especially now with all the rain and overflowing sewerage. Your tank is looking pretty nice, perfect water temperature, Low or no Nitrites, Ammonia….. very tempting, club med for all to enjoy

 

I also have these in my Oscar tank. I did a complete overall to try and get them out. Even added other substrate. and completely cleaned the filters etc... only thing that went back into the the tank that was some of my filter media from a old (worm free tank) and the 2 Oscars.

No ideas on what they are yet??

*********

Just found this on the web - Planaria Worms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlPzex-q4TE&feature=related

 

try adding some cory cat fish . they are hardy and cheap to buy.. a cory will mop those worms up in a day they are eating machines

 

Update: Did some remodelling and gravel vac and their numbers seem to have decreased dramatically. Maybe the addition of my chinese hillstream loach also had something to do with it? Not sure. Click the link in my sig for pics of the tank if you're interested.

oh and tanks for the advice all. If the worms persist I'm borrowing a guppy from a friend for cleanup ;-)

 

Got almost the as ACE007
wont the oscars eat the corys?

 

I've had planarians in my tanks; they do no damage except look unsightly. They tend to climb onto the glass during the night and seem to disappear during the day. An effective way to get rid of them is to clean out the tank completely which I'm guessing you don't want to do. Alternatively, I've witnessed White Cloud Mountain Minnows gorge themselves on planarians and allegedly blue gouramis do too if the minnows are too small for use in this tank.

Interestingly, while keeping Oscars I had a planarian infestation and witnessed a planarian effortlessly dig into an oscar's head and emerge a few millimeters away without so much as a flinch from the oscar. Otherwise, the tank was healthy and the oscars were unperturbed, but I cleaned the tank completely and the planarians did not return.

 

do they wriggle around quite a bit, mainly in one place, if so I think it is mosquito larva