# Tiny Worms?



## Funk (May 13, 2010)

So I've recently set up my first tank and I am just entering week 3. I order the plants from an online retailer and they seem to be doing alright. About 10 days in I first started noticing snails... ok not that big a deal, but tonight I was looking closely and I noticed a bunch of tiny worms wriggling/swimming near the surface and floating in the current. They're about the thickness of a human hair and maybe 1/4"-1/2" in length. I tried getting a picture but they are too small for my cheap digital to get in focus. Any ideas as to what they are and how I could get rid of them? I don't have any fish and I was considering doing a round of some anti-snail treatment, think that'd do the trick?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I wouldn't worry about the tiny worms. They are probably small freshwater annelids and they live on something or other in the debris. I wouldn't worry about the snails either. They may be useful algae eaters.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

actually i've had this problem before... no matter what i did they wouldn't go away but then again i had this problem when i started out so i was noobish and inexperienced. after like couple hours of researching because small white worms in aquarium doesn't get you anywhere on google but i finally found it, if im right this should be it  hoped i helped
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/
btw shrimp, catfish, crays, fish, etc. won't eat these guys i noticed that my shrimp pellets became super mushy and it collected at the very bottom of the tank so when i had this problem i just restarted the whole tank (cleaning out everything) 
my perfect solution after becoming more experienced was MTS they will solve the uneaten food problem because it's usually deep in the gravel.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I am not sure what this is. It is hard to tell, but it is not likely to be a planaria. 









This is a picture of a planaria, which is definitely not hair-like.


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

fenbendazole, sold as safeguard at any petco or petsmart could be used for it. its shrimp and fish safe. not sure about snails.


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

From my past experience...

Often times, an outbreak of planaria indicate overfeeding;
Do you have livestock in the tank? 

If you get fenbendazole, and use it, the massive die off will cause an ammonia spike. 

Give the tank a WC, and syphon some of the gravel. The planaria are harmless. However, they do indicate excess food material in the water column.


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## Funk (May 13, 2010)

They look just like the worm in the first picture HeyPK posted.

The tank has been set up about 3 weeks and there have never been any livestock in it. I'm using eco-complete substrate, maybe they're getting food from there?


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## Funk (May 13, 2010)

Basically all I need to know is this some crazy sub-tropical creature that is going to burrow into my arm if I try to rearrange some plants?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

No worries, mate! these are harmless little freshwater oligochaetes that just about everybody has in their tanks. You have been watching too many episodes of Monsters Inside Me on Animal Planet!:faint2:


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

actually all that guy did was upload the picture from the website i posted...just saying the second picture is either a close up or a different species


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