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Worms all over the tank and nirate snail question

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Chloe07

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Hello, I've been having worm problem in my tank.
I think some plant brought this. The worms are visible but they are so small, first I thought it was dust, then with camera zoom in, I could see they are worms moving all around the tank.
Now there are tons in my tank.
I have 1 betta fish. in 5.5 gallon tank. with some live plants, 1 HOB filter and 1 small sponge filter.
There are a lot of these worms inside the sponge filter. Tons came out when I was cleaning the filter in the tank water.
I check the water parameter often and I do partial water change about 2 times a week.
currently its ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 15ppm and I always try to maintain like that. ph is 7.
I use RO water with mineralizer.
Currently my fish is in 5.5 tank and I also have 10 gallon new tank waiting for him. I just don't know what to do with the worms. Its all over my fish too. I can see it falls whenever my fish swims around.
My fish seems to be bothered. Doesn't move much these days, but eats very well.
I don't over feed him. only few pallets twice a day, or few frozen blood worms. And the tank is bare bottom so I clean the waste almost everyday with turkey baster.
Currently I have a nirate snail in 1 gallon tank. I put the tank water for nitrogen cycle, and that snail tank is also will bunch of worms right now. I'm not sure if the snail eats the worm but its all over the snail too.
Please take a look at the picture. I feed the snail some blanched zucchini or carrot. This is my first time having a snail, so I'm not sure about his feces. He had brown feces when I put him in my fish tank first. Had some white hair looking string so I immediately took out of the tank and put him in quarantine tank. I can see his feces changes the color depending on the food color. I fed him zucchini and had this white string, is this his feces? But sometimes he has like a cat hair looking white weird string that is very long. I'm afraid its a parasite or something.
Like the first picture, it looks weird to be feces isn't it?
its coming from his left back, then falls off. Its not moving but sometimes its attached on his body. I just want to make sure its feces and there is no parasite before I put it in the fish tank.
So I have big 2 concerns. The worms. I searched but it seems too small to be detritus. Its too small (like 1mm) so I can't see the face shape clearly. It doesn't look pointy so it is not planaria right? Could it be rhabdocoela flatworm? or is it to small. How could I possibly remove them? My fish is eating well but still is not totally healthy so I'm worried it may harm my fish. Also the snail.
I hate to see these worms crawling my fish and snail. I just want to kill them all to leave my fish and snail in peace. But any medicine can also harm my fish and snail. Is there any way to make them go away?
Its getting on my nerves. Please help.
I'm attaching the pictures of worms crawling my snail. The long white thing is what I'm thinking its feces. There are many small worms over his shell if you take a closer look. thank you so much
 
Last edited:
They look like detritus worms, which normally live in the substrate. The worms hide in the filter because you don't have any gravel in the tank. If you had a thin layer of substrate (gravel or sand) the worms would live in that.

They don't normally harm fish, plants or snails.

If the water quality isn't good, the worms leave the substrate and try to find somewhere else to live.

-----------------------
When you clean the filter materials, do you wash them in a bucket of tank water, or in the tank?
You should wash them in a bucket of tank water and when the media is clean, tip that bucket of dirty water onto the garden.

-----------------------
You can use copper to kill the worms but it will also kill the snail. But you could move the snail into a clean bucket of water, treat the tank with copper, wait 24 hours, and then drain and refill the tank with clean dechlorinated water.

You can try using a fish dewormer like Praziquantel, Levamisole or Flubendazole. I'm not sure if they will work but Praziquantel kills gill flukes, flatworms and tapeworm (which are a type of flatworm).
Flubendazole kills pretty much all worms.
Levamisole treats some thread/ round worms.
 
I agree with @Colin_T, I had similar worms in my tank a few years back, I removed the snails, and then added copper to the tank, they cleared up in less than a week, good luck! :)
 
In addition to Colin's post, my suggestion would be to reduce the organics which are causing the worms to multiply, before trying chemicals that could harm the fish/snail, whichever. From your description you are feeding way too much food, and this is only feeding the worms. Nitrate should not be as high as 15 ppm but with one Betta and live plants close to zero or in the 0 to 5 ppm range.

One or two flakes (smallish) of food each day is sufficient for the Betta. I mention this only to point out how little food fish actually require. One pellet a day is likely more than enough. Many aquarist significantly overfeed their fish (I do not know why every manufacturer of fish foods says feed two or three times daily, that is way to much for any fish except fry). So reduce the feeding, and do the other things Colin suggested.
 
They look like detritus worms, which normally live in the substrate. The worms hide in the filter because you don't have any gravel in the tank. If you had a thin layer of substrate (gravel or sand) the worms would live in that.

They don't normally harm fish, plants or snails.

If the water quality isn't good, the worms leave the substrate and try to find somewhere else to live.

-----------------------
When you clean the filter materials, do you wash them in a bucket of tank water, or in the tank?
You should wash them in a bucket of tank water and when the media is clean, tip that bucket of dirty water onto the garden.

-----------------------
You can use copper to kill the worms but it will also kill the snail. But you could move the snail into a clean bucket of water, treat the tank with copper, wait 24 hours, and then drain and refill the tank with clean dechlorinated water.

You can try using a fish dewormer like Praziquantel, Levamisole or Flubendazole. I'm not sure if they will work but Praziquantel kills gill flukes, flatworms and tapeworm (which are a type of flatworm).
Flubendazole kills pretty much all worms.
Levamisole treats some thread/ round worms.
Hello Colin thank you for your reply.
I clean the filter materials in a bucket with tank water once every few months.
I have the sand cleaned and ready but I'm afraid all the worms may hide inside the sand. I kept bare bottom so that at least I can clean the worms with syphon, but this doesn't help much because the number is just out growing.
I bought seachem cupramine which is copper but there were many negative reviews that it killed their fish. Since my fish is not that healthy, I'm afraid it may harm or kill my fish.
I'm researching about the Flubendazole. There are for human medicine too.
There are so many medicine and I'm hesitant because any wrong or strong medicine can be fatal for my fish. My fish is lethargic, he is only active when I feed him.
The temperature is 79~80 degree, water parameter is good, so it makes me think these worms and tiny creatures are just all over his body that is making him lethargic.
Will something like flubendazole kill the beneficial bacteria? I wonder if it will crash the nitrogen cycle.
 
In addition to Colin's post, my suggestion would be to reduce the organics which are causing the worms to multiply, before trying chemicals that could harm the fish/snail, whichever. From your description you are feeding way too much food, and this is only feeding the worms. Nitrate should not be as high as 15 ppm but with one Betta and live plants close to zero or in the 0 to 5 ppm range.

One or two flakes (smallish) of food each day is sufficient for the Betta. I mention this only to point out how little food fish actually require. One pellet a day is likely more than enough. Many aquarist significantly overfeed their fish (I do not know why every manufacturer of fish foods says feed two or three times daily, that is way to much for any fish except fry). So reduce the feeding, and do the other things Colin suggested.
hello, thank you for your reply, yes I increased his food actually thinking he was skinny and needed more nutrients to grow up
He looks like an adolescent, still small comparing with other halfmoon betta. Not sure his age, I bought him in April. I used to feed him only 3 pellets per day, but he looked so skinny. This is his picture from top when I was feeding only 3 pellet/day. Isn't his belly sunken?
He gained little weight after increasing the food, but I it maybe it also increased food source for the worms.
He eats all the food and there is no leftover at the bottom since its bare bottom and I clean any feces with turkey baster, but is it still giving food source to the worms?
If his belly seems ok, I think its good idea to decrease his food.
 
I agree with @Colin_T, I had similar worms in my tank a few years back, I removed the snails, and then added copper to the tank, they cleared up in less than a week, good luck! :)
hello, may I ask which product did you use for copper? did the copper medicine kill the beneficial bacteria as well? thank you
 
I agree with @Colin_T, I had similar worms in my tank a few years back, I removed the snails, and then added copper to the tank, they cleared up in less than a week, good luck! :)
oh since you have snail, let me ask you, the long white string attached from his body, is that snail feces? I'm worried if its a parasite. please let me know, thanx
 
It depends on what his diet consists of, see for my ZNS, his diet is algae, calcium build up, and blanched cucumbers. His feces is a brown color. What do you feed him? :)
 
It depends on what his diet consists of, see for my ZNS, his diet is algae, calcium build up, and blanched cucumbers. His feces is a brown color. What do you feed him? :)
First I put the snail in the tank and he started to eat a lot around the silicone and suction cup. There is no dark visible algae in my tank but I think he was more eating something like biofilm and he had brown feces. Then had a cat hair looking like a thin white string, so I put him in a quarantine 1 gallon tank. Its a new tank so he had no algae nor biofilm so I gave blanched zucchini and carrot. In somehow he doesn't eat algae wafer. The picture is after eating the zucchini. But can snail feces be that long string? I've look everywhere but it all seem short and brown.
 
Copper is fine to use in tanks as long as you don't overdose. Most aquariums sold in the US are sold by the gallon, eg 20 gallon tank. These tanks don't normally hold 20 gallons and when set up with gravel, ornaments, etc, they usually hold a lot less. Unfortunately people treat the tank for 20 gallons and overdose it and poison the fish.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

------------------------
If you are concerned about using copper, a half dose should kill the worms in a few hours. You can do a half dose, watch the worms and when they are dead, do a big water change using dechlorinated water.

------------------------
the stuff on the snail looks like fish poop but white stringy fish poop is usually an indication the fish has an intestinal complaint, possibly intestinal worms. The white worms in the tank are not intestinal worms, they are completely different.
 
Mr snails feces is always brown, and are about 1 cm, Long. :)
 
Copper is fine to use in tanks as long as you don't overdose. Most aquariums sold in the US are sold by the gallon, eg 20 gallon tank. These tanks don't normally hold 20 gallons and when set up with gravel, ornaments, etc, they usually hold a lot less. Unfortunately people treat the tank for 20 gallons and overdose it and poison the fish.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

------------------------
If you are concerned about using copper, a half dose should kill the worms in a few hours. You can do a half dose, watch the worms and when they are dead, do a big water change using dechlorinated water.

------------------------
the stuff on the snail looks like fish poop but white stringy fish poop is usually an indication the fish has an intestinal complaint, possibly intestinal worms. The white worms in the tank are not intestinal worms, they are completely different.
Hello, thank you for your instruction.
I moved my fish to the 10 gallon tank as the last try before the medication. Put sand and wood that I've prepared before. Rinsed the HOG filter and little air stone, put 100% new water and ran the filter for several hours. The old tank was running with the sponge filter meanwhile, and did not bring the sponge filter since its full of worms.
After final water testing, I acclimated the fish and did drip method to get used to the new water.
Luckily the nitrate was still 5~10ppm.
My fish is more active in the new tank exploring the sand. I'm crossing my finger but if this new tank gets infested with worm again, then I will put the medication as you directed.
The white stringy poop is only from the snail. My fish has brown round poop once in few days.
I'm not sure what to do with the snail since I'm not sure if the worm came from new moss ball or snail. I threw away the mossball since it was packed with worms. I'm getting bugs/worms from plants even though I bought from reputable places so I bought the plant bulbs :)
Thank you for your help as always.
 

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