# I just found a nasty worm in my tank



## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. It looked like an earthworm, but smaller. Maybe about an inch long, and very visible! Brown and slimy. I tried to catch it with a net, but it burrowed right into the substrate. 
I used dry topsoil from my backyard a year ago. How does an aquatic worm live in my dry topsoil from the backyard?


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## Dustymac (Apr 26, 2008)

Nasty worm? Sounds like healthy fish food to me. 

And if you really want a shock, get yourself a decent microscope. Nematodes, flatworms, paramecia, amoebas, vorticellae and other rotifers, diatoms and spirogyra... the list goes on and on. You'll never take a pull on a siphon hose again! 

Have fun!
Jim


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Dustymac said:


> And if you really want a shock, get yourself a decent microscope. Nematodes, flatworms, paramecia, amoebas, vorticellae and other rotifers, diatoms and spirogyra... the list goes on and on. You'll never take a pull on a siphon hose again!


AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHH! I didn't want to think about all the microscopic stuff in my tank, darn you! Now, I don't start siphons by using my mouth, but some of my more exuberant fish have splashed water in my face when I'm feeding them. I'm usually careful now and stand waaaaaaay back, plopping the food in at arms length, but sometimes they think I'm feeding them when I'm there to clean the tank and splash me then when I'm not paying as much attention. ick, ick, ick, . . .


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## testdummy (Feb 9, 2008)

I found a nasty worm like that too in my fish tank, i managed to catch it with tweezers and threw it away in a spare container >_>. I tried looking online later for a worm that matched it, but never found one. It looked smooth non-segmented earth worm and was about 1/2in long. Burrowed fast through the gravel/soil and would randomly come up. I wouldn't see it for weeks at a time. One day I was fast enough to catch it and toss it >_>. Moved just like an earthworm too.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

It may have been a tubifex worm which could have come in on a plant. These are harmless.


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

testdummy- I think we are talking about the same EXACT worm. I hope I catch that sucker because it gives me goosebumps!

HeyPK- Are tubifex worms segmented?


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## testdummy (Feb 9, 2008)

So far I haven't been able to match up pictures of tubifex worms online with the worm I caught. Now I regret not taking a picture of it. >_> It didn't appear to have any segments though.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

It could be an aquatic earthworm. There are several hundred species. Length is between 1 and 30 mm.

They are harmless and would be eaten by anything large enough that could catch them. I wouldn't mind having a breeding colony of them in my tanks.

Here's a link:

http://www.olympusmicro.com/micd/ga...pondscum/annelida/aquaticearthworm/index.html

Bill


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Apr 23, 2008)

Is it possibly planaria?


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## testdummy (Feb 9, 2008)

It didn't have that shape, colors almost right but it looked like a smooth earthworm without any segments(pointed on both ends).


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Apr 23, 2008)

Well planaria come in very different shapes. Try capturing one, placing it in a cup full of water, and cut it in half. If both halves start to become a new creature, then it's definitely planaria.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Revernance said:


> Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. It looked like an earthworm, but smaller. Maybe about an inch long, and very visible! Brown and slimy. QUOTE]
> 
> Its an aquatic worm. Totally harmless and wonderful fishfood. I once paid $35 for a shipment of "California Blackworms", which are probably "kissing cousins" of what you found.
> 
> ...


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## racer1 (Dec 13, 2007)

Did it look anything like these?










Brown worms I bought as fish food. The survivors have colonized.


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## testdummy (Feb 9, 2008)

sort of but much thicker


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## zer0zax (Mar 25, 2007)

I just read a neat discussion on California Blackworms on another forum, one guy lets the worms establish themselves in his substrate in fry tanks. He uses 1/2" of sand and the worm population has not been decimated yet.
Here is a link to the discussion: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=22784

In a planted aquarium or El Natural, the substrate will be a bit thicker and I will have to give these guys a shot! I already have MTS snails to aerate the substrate, but I honestly don't think they go more than 1" deep, and I am VERY sure they don't dig all the way down.

These worms might fit the bill!! I am also thinking about adding the assassin snails :laser: to control my booming population of MTS, as long as they don't eat shrimp or slow fish.

I know a lot of you are thinking "Whats wrong with that guy? He just ain't right."
But a few of you are also trying to get the glass box as natural as possible, and you can definitely see a huge improvement in stability and happier healthier fish!!


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

racer1 said:


> Did it look anything like these?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


same color, but a bit thicker and bit shorter.


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## mauve (Apr 20, 2010)

There is nothing natural in sterility.
Why bother having a naturally planted aquarium if you are disgusted by
the very things that make it natural?
Philosophically speaking, without that "nasty worm" there would be no you. 
Eliminating all these "creepy" organisms would mean destroying the planet on which we live....


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## Fish_Assassin (Jan 30, 2011)

I just found some in my tank today!.... If i starve my tank would it get rid of the worms?


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## seadreamer90 (Jan 19, 2011)

Dustymac said:


> Nasty worm? Sounds like healthy fish food to me.
> 
> And if you really want a shock, get yourself a decent microscope. Nematodes, flatworms, paramecia, amoebas, vorticellae and other rotifers, diatoms and spirogyra... the list goes on and on. You'll never take a pull on a siphon hose again!
> 
> ...


Ewwww! I admit I was giggling over the OP and their worm freak-out (I'd be delighted to find them in my tank) until the above quoted post and the flashbacks of all the water I've had to spit out from syphoning.

<--thinking of my digestion problems now and colonizing...lifeforms..... :shock:


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## LVKSPlantlady (Oct 4, 2009)

Fish_Assassin said:


> I just found some in my tank today!.... If i starve my tank would it get rid of the worms?


eventually it would starve the worms but may also starve your fish..I would also say not to do this because all the dead and decaying worms can/will pollute your water... plus fish like to eat them. On a down side the only tank I have ever noticed a lot of these worms, that seemed to come from one where, also had hydra show up in force... weather it was related or not don't know I admittedly I let the water go too long with out a change, this was not a NPT either... I have had hydra in another tank but didn't see any worms not that they would have a chance with the skunk and brown Khulli's in there!


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