Planarians.

[DrOizo]

This comes up quite often but the most probable type of worms that these will be are over feeding worms (Nice name huh I made it myself) When there is too much food in the tank these worms thrive, supposedly the eggs are airborne and also come on plants etc. To get rid of them Add 3 corries to your tank (My pepered corries did the trick) Within a day of getting corries all the worms had been eaten

 

[bogusmove]

Thanks for your reply.

Actually, it's not being cycled, it was a quarantine tank which has had noone in it for weeks, so it is established, but most of the beneficial bacteria are probably dead. I occasionally add a tiny amount of ammonia but most likely not often enough to keep the tank completely well cycled all the time. No food is being added.

I assume your describing planaria? I've seen other posts asking about them but the cause is always stated as overfeeding so I dismissed the idea...

You mention dead matter... there is certainly an amount of plant material decaying on the substrate... and also, could they come from food added in the past? The last time food was added (when fish were in the tank) must be some 3 weeks ago.

 

[DrOizo]

I'm pretty sure that they will be the over feeding worms. They don't just survive on fish food, as it is a tank in use it there will be fish poop etc and edible bits and bobs for worms so they probably can still survive. Try some cories and if they don't work keep the cories anyway as they are cool!! But seriously I wouldn't add any anti worm chemicals etc untill you've tried the natural way!

 

[bogusmove]

Okie Thanks for the help. I'm sure your right, there is most likely left overs they are surviving on.

I just recently lost 2 (of 6) corrys to ich (or ich meds) in my main tank, so i'll be wanting to use my quarantine tank to replace them in the not too distant future. Until then I might just leave them and observe!