Little white worms...

T

TheSmJ

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Feb 18, 2004
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My tank is recently cycled (for the last couple weeks) and it contains 9 dwarf puffers, all happily exploring their well plastic planted tank (for now).

For the last 3 days, the water has gotten cloudy, and now there are these teeny, tiny, white worms crawling around on the glass.

I'm wondering if they're anything to worry about? Anyone know what they are?

Perhaps it's time to dig out the ol' microscope...
 
Yup. They are called planaria. Not harmful to fish (many fish will eat them) but are an indication of overfeeding/ too much waste in the substrate. Gravel vac-ing and water changes will help get rid of them..

Do a quick search for "planaria" or "worms" on here - there have been some posts on this and I know at least one of them have some good links I included:)
 
Well, on closer inspection:

1. Using a monocle, I have found that they are in fact worms, the ones on the glass are around 1mm in length.

2. Occasionally, I find longer ones (2cm?) floating around in the water, although soon after seeing them, the fish gobble them up.

3. I have also found little white bits of "fluff" both floating around in the water, and on the gravel, and plants. This stuff is everywhere. Eggs of some sort?


I'll start feeding them less, in fact I may just skip a feeding tomorrow. I've been having trouble gauging how much frozen bloodworms to give them, but I'm beginning to get a better idea as to how much I should break off, and how many worms are in fact on that broken chunk of frozen bloodworms.

I have been aware I have been overfeeding them, and have been working on the problem. Thing is, most of the DPs like to hide while I'm around (around 4 of them) while the other 5 tend to stick around the front of the tank.

I'd like to be able to leave enough food for the guys in the back, while not overfeeding them.
 
I just did a 1/3 water change + gravel vac of the tank. picked up a TON of that white stuff mentioned before which was all over the plants and gravel, along with plenty of old bloodworms.

How soon could I do another 1/3 water change and still keep the fish safe?
 
I'd wait till morning. They aren't harming anything at all by being in there and my thing would be to avoid possibly stressing the fish out. There is no hurry:)
 
Actually, the DP's were almost too curious as to what I was doing. They all came right up to the vacuum tube to watch the garbage get sucked up. Often I had to shoo a few away in fear of them getting TOO close to the opening. There guys are the most curious and brave fish I've ever cared for.

I use a Python vacuum, so had they gotten sucked up, they'da had a short ride through a 50' hose, and then into the faucet fixture where they would have been sure to be ground up.

Still, at this point I may just skip 2 days of feedings. That and feeding the fish far less should plummet the worm's population.
 
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