# I've got worms



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

So I have been noticing increasing numbers of these "Worms" that are in my tank. And i honestly have No idea what they could be. They are about 1/2 - under 1" long and there are a decent number of them. I have been doing water changes every day sucking them up out of the gravel and off the walls. I'm not infested but they are annoying. I saw one even eating a bloodworm... great so i'm feeding my fish and the worms now. 

Any idea what these are? Or do you need a picture?


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Need pics.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

There are 3 of the worms on the glass and close to the glass on the rocks. Any advice would be great.


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## Tonka (Mar 20, 2004)

Hard to see. If the worms have a flat triangular head, they are (drum roll please) flatworms (platyhelminthes). If so, they are harmless. I'm surprised that if your fish eat "blood worms" (midge larvae) that they also don't eat flatworms.

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/invertebrates/flatworms.shtml


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I'll try to see the head tomorow, if i cant tell i'll put it on a slide and under a microscope. 

The only thing i have in there is Endlers, cherries, and a DP, and all three eat bloodworms.


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## evercl92 (Aug 14, 2006)

I agree with Tonka. They appear to be flatworms, but a clearer pic would be needed to be sure.


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

They look like Planaria (flatworms) to me, though the pix is fuzzy.

Some species will eat baby shrimp, so you need to control their population if that's a concern.

Any broad specturm anti-helminthe treatment will do well and you can search this forum for many suggestions about that.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I'll look up anti-helminthe treatment. But can i ask, what causes them to grow? Or what is triggering them? I have tried to keep an eye at feeding time to make sure there is very very little extra food. But i need to keep this problem to an all time low in my 55 gallon, i just think they are WICKED ugly. I'll try for a better photo but, not sure how much better they get with my camera and their size.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Hmmmmm So today i was feeding my puffer and i look in the back corrner and there is this jelly mass that looks like it has yellow eggs, so i get out the gravel vac, suck it up, strain it out of the water, and sure enough it was... A cherry shrimp. (I think) I'll include a pic in almost it's native size to show it. But the intersting thing was, there were these worms around it. I think this was one of my mature females (more mature at least) it was very red. Can anyone help point me to a remedy...

To be honest i'm ready to rip up the substrate (gravel) and replace it with dirt and SMS, low light low tech planted.








Not to thrilled about this.


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

Muirner said:


> I'll look up anti-helminthe treatment. But can i ask, what causes them to grow? Or what is triggering them? I have tried to keep an eye at feeding time to make sure there is very very little extra food. But i need to keep this problem to an all time low in my 55 gallon, i just think they are WICKED ugly. I'll try for a better photo but, not sure how much better they get with my camera and their size.


Nothing in particular is 'triggering' them. You probably transported them from plants or other items taken from other live aquatic ecosystems.

Planaria are found in almost every aquatic habitat so its not hard to get them from plants you buy - they can come in as eggs or babies and be virtually impossible to see.

If there is enough food for the fish and shrimp, there is certainly enough for some planaria.

Good tank maintenance will keep the population low but if you want to, you can use something like Clout from AP. Check for safe use of chemical treatments with shrimp as well as fish.

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Tearing down the tank and moving items from one tank to another will simply move the planaria from one tank to another UNLESS you treat the items and gravel with something like a potassium permangenate, alcohol or bleach solution.

My personal preference for items like gravel or hardscapes is alcohol since it is cheap, very effective at killing virtually everything, and evaporates rapidly; no need to carefully rinse out the residual chemicals - simply ignore it and it will go away in a few hours or a day or two, depending on how much you use - but I let everything dry out to be certain. A rinse to remove all the 'denatured proteins' is a good idea tho since our aquariums have plenty of dissolved organics without adding alot from the start.


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## ryzilla (Feb 3, 2007)

Planeria really is not a bad thing. They are always present IMHO. They might be in your filter or hanging around in the substrate. These little creatures are part of your waste decomposing team. I had them in my cherry shrimp tank and they didnt cause any harm. Once I tuned the light on in my 10g cherry they would be on the bottom 4 inches of the glass, maybe about 20-30 of them all together. I didnt mind them. What i did mind what all the cyclops in the tank. I had hundreds of them. I added 2 endler fry to take care of the cyclops and now my planeria are gone as well. Not to mention the endler fry grew faster than anything I Have ever seen. Believe me, you want planeria in your filter. They help brake waste down to even smaller microns making it easier for the bacteria to work more efficently.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I have endler fry in with my planeria mess and to be honest, i dont think they have touched a single one HAHA. I'm sticking with daily gravel vacs, but when I pour the water out, i pour it back into the tank through a small net, this will help to filter out the planeria, and allow the same water to go back into the tank. BUT i only do this when the amount of crap i suck out of the substrate is minimal, if it's a decent amount then i'll use new water treated with prime.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Ok, so my planeria bout is still going.. Anyone have any advice? I feed my puffer by hand and she, along with 2 ottos and a few cherries are the only occupents of the tank. What causes planeria to run rampiant? Tonight i was going out and i look at the tank. There must have been 100 planeria on the walls. I sucked as many as i could up, and did a water change, but i dont get it. Why is this tank all planeria?


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## Proteus (Jun 24, 2007)

Have you considered farming them professionally? You are already a pro!

Do you have any fish (other tanks) that you can move over temporarily that might be more enthusiastic about eating them than the current inhabitants? I'm a big proponent of natural solutions to problems like this. Most chemicals that will kill the worms will put a big whammy on your shrimp -- be very, very careful with that.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

and what kind of fish will eat planeria? I'm not opposed to other options, but the puffer is quite frankly a moody bit*h (could i have written that?)?


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## grumbolar (Oct 4, 2006)

I've had the same problem in my 10g shrimp tank for some time. I don't think I overfeed, and I catch them coming out to eat food before my shrimp get to it. They stayed around even after a complete teardown and new substrate. Any fish that'll eat a grown worm will certainly eat the smaller shrimp. I did find that my filter (HOB type) was basically a huge worm nest. Daily I would see very small worms swimming around the tank, turns out they were being spit out of the filter. Cleaning it with very hot water weekly and replacing the media more frequently has made a noticable difference. I know it's bad for my biofilter but it's a planted tank with just shrimp so the load isn't all that high and the ammonia/nitrite levels have still stayed at/near 0.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

I seem to remember Blue, or three spot, Gouramis (Trichogaster trichopterus) being recommended as good predators of Planaria. I don't know whether that extends to other gouramis, but would have thought the other Trichogaster spp. should share the habit, maybe!


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

Muirner said:


> and what kind of fish will eat planeria? I'm not opposed to other options, but the puffer is quite frankly a moody bit*h (could i have written that?)?


Bettas are known to eat planeria. However, bettas tend to have differing personalites, some people can keep bettas in a community tank without problems and others cannot.  Either the bettas end up acting agressively towards their tank mates or the bettas become the targets of agresssion. I have a female betta in a community tank and she does not seem to be overly aggressive, but on occasion I have seen her give chase to my Bolivian Ram. Also, if you have shrimp, the Betta may or may not bother them. I have one amano shrimp in my tank and the female betta leaves it alone.


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## kimo (Apr 21, 2006)

Muirner said:


> Ok, so my planeria bout is still going.. Anyone have any advice?  I feed my puffer by hand and she, along with 2 ottos and a few cherries are the only occupents of the tank. What causes planeria to run rampiant? Tonight i was going out and i look at the tank. There must have been 100 planeria on the walls. I sucked as many as i could up, and did a water change, but i dont get it. Why is this tank all planeria?


A simple case of overfeeding. Only feed the fish 6 days a week and let them do the cleanup on the seventh. The Planaria will be gone in no time. Try to avoid using any chemicals... all they do is screw up good water conditions.


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## kiwik (Apr 3, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Bettas are known to eat planeria. However, bettas tend to have differing personalites, some people can keep bettas in a community tank without problems and others cannot. Either the bettas end up acting agressively towards their tank mates or the bettas become the targets of agresssion. I have a female betta in a community tank and she does not seem to be overly aggressive, but on occasion I have seen her give chase to my Bolivian Ram. Also, if you have shrimp, the Betta may or may not bother them. I have one amano shrimp in my tank and the female betta leaves it alone.


i personally dont like the look of a betta in a community tank. maybe a tank with only itself and maybe some bottom feeders. the first time i had golden rams, it was really aggressive towards other fish. when i went to another LFS and got another golden ram, the betta was aggressive towards it. weird...


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