Aagghhh Worms!

[comocrayfish5]

so i am looking im my baby crayfish tank and i see little teeny weenie white worms on the sides of the glass. they are barely moving and are about 1-2mm long. what do i do!?!?!?! 

 

[Chad]

Are you sure they are worms and not copepods? At that size I know it would be difficult to get a photo, but if your camera has a macro mode (the little flower icon) could you give it a try? Many worms are nothing to worry about but others are problematic or a sign of a problem...copepods are not a problem at all and do show up.

 

[comocrayfish5]

eh i dont know if my camera is that good but i could try and get it uploaded by tomorrow. either way i want them out of the tank. i cant handle creepy crawlies in my tank!

 

[Chad]

Well...don't go too far overboard just yet! Some of those little critters provide a good food source for fish. But if you hate them so much then rid of them you shall be!

 

[comocrayfish5]

i have no fish in that tank, only baby crayfish how do you suggest i get rid of them. i usually use Mardel Coppersafe... but the first warning was to take all inverts out and well thats all i have in there...

 

[Chad]

It can often be a matter of just cleaning the tank up a bit. Siphoning out the gravel, making sure leftover food is removed, etc. It's difficult with a crayfish since they are pretty messy to keep anyway. There is a marine product that might work. It's for flat worms and is reef safe so has no copper. But I'm not sure about it's use on a FW tank. Flatworm eXit is what it's called, it's made by Salifert. Might be worth a look if the clean up doesn't do the trick.

 

[comocrayfish5]

maybe i will vac the sand and get some feeder minnows in there...or i will just scrub the sides of the tank.. OR put in the 180 small new babies in because they usually hang out on the glass so they can be the cleaning crew

 

[snazy]

I would never dose an invert tank with an invert killer. Copper can soak into the silicone and you'll never be ablle to keep inverts in this tank, or at least for ages. Most of the dangerous hitchkihers can't just appear unless they've been brought via plants or other equipment. Otherwise non-harmful ones can appear in a tank when conditions are pleasing them.
Those tiny worms could be detritus worms. They normally kind of take an S shape when moving, caused by overfeeding and left over food. Decrease the food, clean up left over food, increase syphoning and water changes and there'll be soon no strange inhabitants.
Whatever is feeding them and making them multiply won't disappear by adding copper or any meds. And it will make it worse, because instead of being processed by them, it will just rot and develop pathogenic bacteria instead.

 

[Chad]

Just to be clear...Flatworm eXit contains no copper and is invert safe. It will not kill shrimp, corals, crabs, or snails. If it's coral safe it's crayfish safe. The only unknown is if it treats only flatworms or if it would also work on what you have. I also would not recommend copper or something that would kill inverts off.
 
As stated and agreed above...cleaning is really the best way to be rid of them.

 

[comocrayfish5]

i will clean the tank more. i of course would not put any meds in that would hurt them