Little White Wormy Things?

[Netty]

Hi
We have just got home from a disaterous 30hrs away and have found little white worms in one of our tanks.
The tank is a 30L, 1 x male PK betta and 2 x oto's. It has a few real plants and is internally filtered. the water is - Amm = 0, NitrIte = 0, NitrAte = 15, Ph = 7.2 and the temp is 74. I did a 30% water change 34 hrs ago.
The worms are about 6 - 8 mm long and very thin. they are on the glass and on the surface.

I have fed live bloodworm and live glassworm recently.

The male PK is acting strange. He just darted around the tank and head butted a small pot. He stayed there for a bit then swam off.

Any ideas would be gratefully received

Thanks

 

[5teady_2012]

probably this

http/members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Planaria.htm

 

[devon_charm]

Alot of tanks get them..if they are what i think...usually the fish will pick at them but they shouldn't cause any harm to your fish, anti fluke treatment should get rid.

 

[Netty]

Had a look at the link but they are definately white and not brown. The lights have been off in the tank for just over 30 hours (not sure if that makes a difference).

Devon Charm ......... Diesel has just eaten one off the glass but most of them on on the surface of the water in the side of the tank that has the least water movement.

 

[devon_charm]

Lack of light might promote them i'm not sure....i have had them myself and just left them they were in a tank with fry and the babies seem to quite like the odd one here and there....i think they can also develop due to over feeding but don't quote me on that

 

[Monty2451]

Try this link. In the article Wilder links to it says Planaria are milky white, not brown. There are also a lot of helpful suggestions aside from meds. http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/23...ppppppp-Wilder/

Hope you get rid of them.

 

[5teady_2012]

Had a look at the link but they are definately white and not brown. The lights have been off in the tank for just over 30 hours (not sure if that makes a difference).

Devon Charm ......... Diesel has just eaten one off the glass but most of them on on the surface of the water in the side of the tank that has the least water movement.

Planaria are white...

this what i think you should do

First do a water test, if you have been overfeeding and the worms have appeared, you will probably find your ammonia levels (maybe all) are high. this needs sorting, more frequent water changes needed..


You should keep a consistent schedule..

Waterchange 20-30% every week.

Gravel clean every 3-4 weeks

I also clean my filter every month, rinsing the pads out in fish tank water.. (if more than one pad, aonly clean one at a time, dont clean all at once) for example, clean 1 pad 1 month, next month clean the other etc..

Like i say it depends on your filter, how much food you use, how many fish are in the tank, the size of the tank etc.. this is only a guide to help it be cleaner



If your water stats are high, then do more frequent water changes over a few days to help lower it, maybe 20% for 3 days running will drop it down and help (only do this if tests levels are high.)


Here is also a quote from a question regarding your exact problem...

Reply. Hello John. I'm pretty sure these are planaria, which are flatworms and members of the Platyhelminthes phylum.
Planaria are often found in aquariums with uneaten food. The planaria won't hurt the fish, but they are a symptom of too much gravel containing too much uneaten food, and that is not good for fish.

Uneaten food causes all sorts of problems, and uneaten food in your aquarium may have been part of the reason that your mollies died.

Here are my recommendations.

1. Clean Your Aquarium. Click here to read about Cleaning Your Warm Water Aquarium. In particular you should clean your gravel with a Gravel Washer. Click here for more about a Gravel Washer.

2. Add Aquarium Salt to your aquarium up to a maximum of 1 Tablespoon for each 5 gallons of water in your aquarium. I seem to remember you have a so-called 29-gallon aquarium, which probably has about 25 gallons of water. If so, you should add a maximum of 5 Tablespoons of Aquarium Salt. If, for example, you already have 2 Tablespoons in your water, add 3 more Tablespoons.

3. Don't Over React. Clean your gravel every day with the Gravel Washer. When you've removed 20% of the water, stop and top your aquarium back up with tap water from the faucet. In your case 20% of 25 gallons = 0.20 x 25 = 5 gallons. Repeat this procedure every day.

4. It may take several days of gravel washing to get your gravel really clean. When it is finally really clean, begin removing gravel, until it is at most 1/4" deep. If you have an under gravel filter, email me back, because you'll need some more advice, or click here to go to another website with information about how to remove an under gravel filter.

5. Add Quick Cure. Each day after you clean your aquarium and wash the gravel, treat the water with 1 drop of Quick Cure for each gallon of water in your aquarium. In your case this will be 25 drops once a day each day. Click here for more about Quick Cure. You can also replace the Aquarium Salt that you removed, which would be 1 Tablespoon in the 5 gallons of water.

6. Small fish such as baby mollies might eat the planaria. I would try adding a few small fish to see if they will eat the planaria.

Repeat steps 1 to 6 listed above, until you don't see the worms any more. This procedure will take several days and require quite a bit of your elbow-grease, but it's the safest method for the rest of the fish in your aquarium.

I hope my comments help you. If you have a follow-up question, please send me an email reply. Good luck with your fish

 

[Netty]

Thanks for that Will give it another good clean out tomorrow morning. They did have some extra live food before we went away yesterday so it seems this is what might be the problem. Was just a bit of a shock coming home tonight to see them crawling up the glass.......yuk!!!!!

We do do regular water changes, gravel cleaning and record all of our tests. I think we maybe put too much live food in.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Amunet]

I think 5teady pretty much covered it all heh.
Planaria are harmless, but the cause of an outbreak of them is something that you'll want to look into.
If water stats are fine, then it probably was just the overfeeding that caused them to pop up more.

I remember I added some coppersafe to my 10gal.. and I looked over to see the girls going crazy. Looked closer and there was planaria getting blown out of the filter and the girls were eating them all.. bleh. They had a good snack I guess though lol

 

[helterskelter]

5teady got it sotred i think

This is a common problem with over feeding.