Something Weird In My Tank!?

[Snake42490]

So my tank has been going great for the past two months up until tonight. everything was going great until i looked in the tank to notice something swimming. Ill try to describe it. I dont know if its a parasite or something some insect could have put in the tank or what. biggest maybe 1/4inch and smaller. i saw about 4 of them and netted them out. Its a clear white and long and skinny. it has like a snake like swim motion swimming with a swirl tail. the very tip of it is almost like a head still very small and appears clear. My tank has been going for 8 months now. the fish are still all smaller.. almost 2 inches. all mbuna african cichlids. Thanks Seth

If this is something that needs treatment what should i be adding that wont mess up tank etc...

 

[Snake42490]

so i have been looking and reading up... i have no clue.. i also have two snails that magically showed up in my plants. i dont know if that would mean anything.


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http/images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...m%3D1%26hl%3Den

 

[Amunet]

Well if you can see an obvious head on the worm, then I dunno...
But if it's just a small skinny white worm it may just be planaria which are harmless, gross and annoying, but harmless.

 

[Snake42490]

i would say that small skinny white / clear worm... whats my best bet for getting rid of them? how did they even get in the tank in the first place? i would get pics but i dont know if i can get up on one of them... water changes? any ideas thanks

 

[Yazan]

so i have been looking and reading up... i have no clue.. i also have two snails that magically showed up in my plants.

usually plants cave snail eggs, when you buy the plants, the eggs hatch.

 

[Amunet]

If they're planaria, you might be overfeeding or not doing enough gravel vacs. Maybe even too much gravel so food + not enough vacs caused the worms to become a problem.
I have no idea how they get into our tanks, I just know that they end up in them and start increasing in numbers when something isn't right.

What I do to try to keep their population down is do some really good gravel vacs over a few days along with water changes. Shake out the filter bag in some dechlorinated water (not sure if this is recommended but I figure if they're in the gravel or being swirled around the tank, then they're definitely going to be in the filter bag), scrub the sides of the tank if the worms are on the sides and yeah, that should help get rid of alot of them.

 

[Snake42490]

hhmm... this is so weird... haha i do 10 - 20 percent water changes on all of my tanks every 3 days... including gravel. i will check today and see what i see.. so is it a worm from the snail?.. second if the fish eat it will there be any problems? Thanks Seth!

 

[Amunet]

If planaria then fish will be perfectly fine eating them.
I'm having a problem with them right now in my 10gal and my bettas absolutely love the nasty things heh
I doubt the worms came from the snail, but ya never know.

 

[hogan53]

hello there
sounds like you have had a dragon fly or some sort of gnat/mozzy larva in your aquarium do you leave your lid/top/hood open near a window,this may be the answer.

 

[Snake42490]

well i was starting to think things over and i think i know what happened. i got a 50 gallon garbage can and filled it with water a week prior. bascially keeping warm treated water on hand so all would have to do was start a pump and run water to my tanks. i cleaned everything really well but i wonder if there might have been some eggs inside the tubes which caused the worms to be put into the tank. thats the only time i noticed them right after the water change. oh well. another day by and i have yet to see anything swimming haha Thanks again!