# Parasites?



## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, but here it goes. 

I've had my tank set up for a little over a month now, the plants are doing pretty well, no fish yet but I've got some snails. Recently, I've started noticing small white worm-looking things in the water in my tank. There aren't a lot of them at any given time, maybe 2-5, but if you look closely, you can see them. They look almost like roots, except they appear to have small little bands on them, not exactly sure what color. They are white, and about .5 to 1cm in length. They appear to squirm around a little bit as they get moved around in the current from my filter, and then eventually they hit a rock or plant and they sort of attach themselves to it. I'd like to be able to get a picture, but I doubt that I would be able to even if I tried.

Does anyone have any idea what these might be? Do you think they would be harmful to any fish that I put in? Hopefully someone will know, thanks in advance.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I tell ya, that Animal Planet show, Monsters Inside Me, which shamelessly played on the gross out factor, has got everybody creeped out about anything wormy. No, these are harmless annelid relatives of the earthworm that live on something they find edible in the mulm. Probably _Chaetogaster_ species.


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Ok cool, thank you for the reply. 
The main reason I was asking besides not knowing what they were is because I plan to put shrimp in the tank, and I'd heard that there are some parasites that bother shrimp. I've also never seen anything like this in my other tank which has been running for about 3 years or so. I've also heard that fish eat some of these types of things, do you know if this is true?
Thanks again for the response


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I don't think you have to worry about shrimp parasites unless the shrimp, themselves, bring some in with them.


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Thank you for the help, I'm glad that it's nothing to worry about


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