Can you identify these worms?

_newbie_

AC Members
Jul 26, 2006
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New Zealand
Here is a pic of the worms have appeared in my tanks. This is the smaller bredder tank which got infested when I moved a couple of snails in from the larger tank. Any idea of what they are and how to get rid of them? They're only a couple of mm at the moment but I've seen them up to 1.5cm. I'm currently treating the tanks with daily 10% w/c and extra CO2.
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planaria is the most likely candidate, they come to the tanks with calamari stickers :P just kidding on the sticker thing... do large gravel vacs and big water changes
 
planaria is the most likely candidate, they come to the tanks with calamari stickers :P just kidding on the sticker thing... do large gravel vacs and big water changes
Lol on the joke. The story with the sticker is it use to be the fish tank:eek: at work, early childhood care and education center, and the kids wanted to make the tank pretty. They named the fish nemo, dori and bruce...guess what movie they had seen lol.
 
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/platyhelminthes/dugesiasm.jpg

these "Flatworms" are unsegmented and bilaterally symmetrical. they typically appear as small white "worms" seen crawling all over the glass and ornaments, especially at night.

Planaria commonly show up in tanks with an excess of food and most are introduced to an aquarium from other aquaria with live foods like black worms, live plants, or anything else moved from an active aquarium that has them. If a lot of residual food is left in a tank, including dead and dying fish, snails, other animals, and plants, then a few planaria may divide into hundreds very quickly. they usually reproduce by asexual fission.

If a tank is found to have planaria, they can be controlled by a good vacuuming of the gravel and better tank maintenance. to remove planaria from a more heavily infested tank:

1. Set out bait like meat in a mesh bag. remove the bait a few hours after the lights go out on the tank. it should be covered with planaria. throw away and repeat until the population goes down.

2. add planaria eating fish to the tank. such species include the paradise fish, betta, pelvicachromis pulcher and many species of gourami

3. vacuum the gravel very well and do a 50% water change. often, planaria proliferate when the tank is too dirty. this will remove not only some planaria but their food source as well.

4. reduce the foods added to the tank. planaria often proliferate if too much excess food is provided.
 
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