Hundreds Of Small Worms In Gravel...

[davus]

I just did a long overdue waterchange and gravel vac and noticed literally HUNDREDS if not thousands of small worms getting sucked up out of the gravel. I have been scouring over the net to find out what they are and how to get rid of them. The following picture is pretty much what they look like...

However, I am not noticing them coming out of my fish...only present in the gravel.

Any ideas? Is it possible that I have just simply not noticed them coming from the fish???

This is a 75 gallon freshwater tank with 2 large and 2 beat up dempseys, 6 corys and 2 plecos which are pretty large now.

 

[riverman444]

Anchor worms, maybe?

Could you post a picture of them?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi davus

Do you feed your fish live food such as blackworms or tubifex worms? If so, some of them might have escaped and made their home in the gravel. If this is what they turn out to be, they won't hurt your fish as long as they are alive.

 

[riverman444]

Camallanus?

Really need to see a pic. Are any of these "worms" on your fish?

 

[davus]

I don't see any on the fish at all. I don't feed any life food or haven't in probably a year when I last gave some small rosies to the Dempsey's. I have fed frozen bloodworms and recently threw some freezedried tubifex worms in there.

I can try to get a picture, but they look pretty much exactly like what I posted originally only I didn't see them on the fish, only being lifted out of the gravel.

 

[riverman444]

Do they have forked tails? "V" shaped?

 

[davus]

Do they have forked tails? "V" shaped?

No, nothing like that. They were pointy at both ends and about a centimeter long at most.

 

[riverman444]

This article may interest you:

http/www.caudata.org/cc/articles/microfoods.shtml

 

[WILDER]

Sadly it's look like you have internal parasites Camallanus.
What your location.

Sorry when i saw the pic i thougt they was coming out of them, check the anus to see if they are enlarged or red and inflamed, can you see any red worms prutruding from there anuses.

Have you added any live plants lately.

http/inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/

 

[davus]

Sadly it's look like you have internal parasites Camallanus.
What your location.

Sorry when i saw the pic i thougt they was coming out of them, check the anus to see if they are enlarged or red and inflamed, can you see any red worms prutruding from there anuses.

Have you added any live plants lately.

http/inkmkr.com/Fish/CamallanusTreatment/

No live plants.

That pic is one I grabbed from another post on this site. It is not a pic of the worms in my tank. However, they look pretty much exactly like that with the exception that they are not coming out of the anuses of any of my fish...I have only found them in the gravel while vaccuming.

 

[WILDER]

Just get them out of the gravel like you are doing, wouldn't worry to much if the fish are not affected, good luck.

 

[FBF]

what you have are called 'nematodes'. do they look like these?

do a little research on google for more info. they can infect your fish if you feed live feeders (illegal practice in the UK anyway) they arent much of a problem if i remember rightly but you'll have to double check on that. im sure there will be a copper based treatment although if theres a copper free alternative id try that first.

good luck

 

[davus]

what you have are called 'nematodes'. do they look like these?

do a little research on google for more info. they can infect your fish if you feed live feeders (illegal practice in the UK anyway) they arent much of a problem if i remember rightly but you'll have to double check on that. im sure there will be a copper based treatment although if theres a copper free alternative id try that first.

good luck

That's pretty much it. I had pretty much boiled it down to nematodes earlier but I wanted to see if any further info was available. It appears that the ones that infect the anus of the fish are a type of nematode too...

Anyway. Thanks for all the help, folks!