My Gravel Is Alive :/

[Ryefish]

ok, so its not quite the actual gravel that is alive but UGGH!! i have just done a mini vac (like 1L of water, i pour most back in and throw the dirt out) to remove some left over food and some shrimp poop, and i looked at the dirt in the bottom of the bowl...
theres all these tiny worm things EVERYWHERE! they are thin and almost look like fibres or small hairs, move like leeches and worms, and creep me the hell out. ive never noticed these before. I found what i believed to be a leech when i did a gravel vac last thursday when i was looking for a dead fish, and now this

please tell me they are normal...
...I dont know if im just still freaked out from watching some wierd larvae in my pond filter eat a poor tadpole to death yesterday - the stuff you see in nightmares

I think i am going to purchase some rubber gloves for weekly gravel vacs from now on

 

[PDSimon]

It made be itchy when I found some weird little swimming larvae things in my tank...

My bro was telling me how he pulled his hand out of the tank and a leech was attached to him

 

[Ryefish]

OH MY GAWD!!

i am actually itching all over right now. I can handle earth worms, but any other things that are worm like or parasitic just freak the life out of me. I had a parasitic worm hatch from my old giant african landsnails egg one time and i have been terrified since then

ETA: the idea of having to move gravel around this weekend is making me feel ill

 

[PDSimon]

Incase you didn't know of the link

Just imagine them crawling out of the tank, it always helps

 

[Ryefish]

i think i hate you lmao

yeah ive seen the link before. I dont believe i am over feeding (i gravel vac left over food out on an evening), and i did think tubiflex worms but they dont look like them and they are too small. possibly misc. worm thingys but i dont know if they are bad being in there, and they have appeared from nowhere

 

[stuuk1]

Why do you tip the water back in and not replace with fresh, clean water....?

 

[SlyPolak]

Most likely yor little "worms" are planaria. It is a flatworm , and if you look REALLY closely you will see its tiny eyes. You usually get these in the tank by over feeding or vaccuming your gravel too rarely. They wont hurt your fish, the smaller fish will actually eat them if they see it thats why they hide in the gravel when lights are on.


You could make a little "trap" if you really do't like them-- You use a 250ml mineral water bottle, cut into 1/3 (mouth part) and 2/3. Join the 2 parts up in that manner. Stick some "bait" in the bottle, there should not be a gap in-between the 2 parts, so planaria will crawl in from the mouth of the bottle and get to the bottle where the bait is. And when u remove the bottle, planeria will stay inside the bottle.

 

[Ryefish]

Why do you tip the water back in and not replace with fresh, clean water....?

I just do. It all comes back out a few days later anyways with a 40% WC

I watched videos of Planaria, i thought my little leech was one, but nope. And these worms dont have eyes i might try a trap any way. thanks for that

 

[BethK]

I think bean sprouts are off the chinese order tonight