Worms!

[Jephex]

Unfortunately i slept until 3:00 today (rough night), so my fish were overdue for feeding, so i quickly popped on the light and peered into my tank. I counted my fry. 1 down again. Not that big of a deal, but still sad. I started with 14, then moved to baby tank. Slowly it dropped to 8. Moved back to big tank. Now I have 6. But anyways back to the story. I look in the tank, and i think im seeing little hairlike things, shorter than an eyelash swimming around, but i thought i was just tired. i took a shower and came back and looks in. I studied one for a minute and the thing was actually wriggling around. Pretty gross. But fortunately my fish love eating them. Even the fry. I hope the problem is stopped by my fish, and i wish i knew what worms were in there.

 

[xxSarahxx]

Planaria maybe? Or nematodes. Google them or look here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=104438
Nothing to worry aobut! Post back and keep us updated

 

[Jephex]

most likely nematodes...yeah i would starve the tank for a little while to improve water conditions, my fish are perfectly healthy, and plus my gouramis looking a little chubby , i probably do overfeed so ill cut down on that. But back to my point. I would put the tank on a fast for a few days, but im worried about the babies. They probably will eat the worms for food, but the larger fish, without flakes, will eat the babies.

 

[xxSarahxx]

Are the fry not separated from the main tank? What type of fry are we talking about!?!? How old/big are they now?

 

[Jephex]

molly fry...they are about 2 weeks-3 weeks old, about 2 or 3 are safe from being eaten, the rest are small enough.

 

[fawnmodel]

I had them a few years ago in one of my tanks, the buggerin worms are very hardy, I even broke a whole tank down and washed all with salt, and they came BACK@ Hopefully your problem is not so severe, they don't harm fish and some will eat them, as you know.

Best of luck, weird little things, huh