# Live "worms" growing in my Daphnia tanks - what ar



## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

I just spotted some 3/4" long, very skinny worms in my Daphnia tank. I don't know where they came from, there must have been some eggs or babies in the culture I got. Does anyone know what they could be? I tried to get a good picture of one, but was unable to get them into focus. They generally cling to the side of the Daphnia Aquarium, but they'll go in the open water and wiggle around. They're about 1/2-3/4" long and about "2-3 hairs" in diameter and are reddish-tan in color. I've never seen them before, but there's about 20 of them now. I'm hoping they're harmless and good food for my Neolamprologus Brichardis to feed them along with the Daphnia as a special treat, but I'm just not sure. I don't want to introduce any illnesses to my fish through them, like "heart worm in dogs"

Thanks for any help !!!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

I had some in my planted tank a couple years back and was told they are no big deal and will not hurt anything. I only kept the planted tank up a couple months after that. Sorry I dont have more info for you.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> I had some in my planted tank a couple years back and was told they are no big deal and will not hurt anything. I only kept the planted tank up a couple months after that. Sorry I dont have more info for you.


Thanks !!! Hopefully someone will know what they are, since I'm dying to do some research on them. They seem pretty cool.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

they could be planarians, which are mostly harmless, although they may eat daphnea. Search up a picture. They're flat and have this headlike part with eyespots. They shouldnt harm ur fish, altho they're quite comical and quite easy to keep/breed too.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

BelieveInBlue said:


> they could be planarians, which are mostly harmless, although they may eat daphnea. Search up a picture. They're flat and have this headlike part with eyespots. They shouldnt harm ur fish, altho they're quite comical and quite easy to keep/breed too.


Thanks ... I've done some research on Planarians and they don't appear to be those, since they don't have a head of any sort, that I can tell. They basically look like white earthworms that are about 3/4" long and look about like this " ______ " same width and length, just generally white in color. I may just have to chalk it up to one of our world's mysteries, since I can't get a good picture of them.

All the best !!!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

I'll have to search back in post I made on plantedtank.net and find out the name. I'm 99% positive you have the same thing I am talking about.

Mine would come up and wiggle like a S and then a reverse S back and forth. They are very small, skinny, and white in color.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> I'll have to search back in post I made on plantedtank.net and find out the name. I'm 99% positive you have the same thing I am talking about.
> 
> Mine would come up and wiggle like a S and then a reverse S back and forth. They are very small, skinny, and white in color.


That sure sounds like them. Did yours also stick mostly to the side of the tank glass? ... Thanks for any help !!!


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

They're very skinny and looking at the picture they do seem to have a head on on end, like planeria. So maybe they are a skinny form of planeria? Here's a relatively good picture, that I was finally able to get ...


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

This might be them ... http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

That could be it. Wait a few days and see if they develop distinct head regions, or get a couple and see if you can borrow a microscope from somewhere. And as I've said, planarians are not dangerous/harmful, and usually can be fed to the fish in your tank.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Ok...thats not what I had. They look very similar but mine would come out of the gravel and shake like and S. Those look like they are just stuck on your glass.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> Ok...thats not what I had. They look very similar but mine would come out of the gravel and shake like and S. Those look like they are just stuck on your glass.


Yeah, they generally stay stuck to the glass. Occasionally, they'll swim and squiggle around, until they've found their way back to the glass. Also, I have an old microscope, that's a good idea (regarding the earlier comment). I'll see if I can grab one and look at it and see if it has a head and eyes, etc.

All the best and thanks for the help ...


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

let me know how things turn out, might be useful in the future if I or someone I know encounters this as well


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## &lt;=U=L=T=R=A=&gt; (Apr 21, 2010)

I use to have this in my 40 gallon, don't know what there called.The redish color is the left over food in the worms,from uneaten food..the worms are white and transparent.
They are harmless but are nuisance pests :x You have to be consistent. You leave one out and a month later you will be back to the beginning.

This what you have to do.

Feed allot less

Turn up the heat to maximum what your fish can handle.

Start pulling out your substrate(gravel) a little at a time don't want to get a nitrite spike.
You want to end up taking out 70% gravel.(I ENDED TAKING ALL OF IT OUT)
Take out a cup or 2 a day.Rinse with tap and let it sit where the sun hits it.

You can take out more substrate depending on how much bio load you have in your filters.
.
(((((VERY VERY)))) important to Vacuum gravel as much as you can. Recommend once every two days.They like to burrow in the substrate.
Take all your ornaments out a little at a time again you don't want a mini cycle.
And it will make it easy when you vacuum and you end up taking out less water cause it is faster.

Less substrate/ornaments the faster your vacuum will be. And less water you will be taking out.

And once a week I did 50% water change and added aquarium salt(I read that the worms don't like the salt)

And put a very fine hydro sponge on the inlet of your filter.So it can catch the worms on the sponge , they can live in filter itself to  and that is where the aquarium salt comes to play :thumb:
And when you don't see any more keep on doing it for another week and then give your filter a good cleaning.

Its been a year since I did this and never seen one worm again =D>

Good Luck!


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

> I use to have this in my 40 gallon, don't know what there called.The redish color is the left over food in the worms,from uneaten food..the worms are white and transparent.
> They are harmless but are nuisance pests :x You have to be consistent. You leave one out and a month later you will be back to the beginning.
> 
> This what you have to do.
> ...


Thanks for the good advice !!! 

It looks like I'm most of the way there, since they're in my smaller (5 gallon) Daphnia tank, which already does not have any gravel or filtration of any kind (just a small bubbler). I also do a 50% water change every week, which I clean the sides and bottom (as best I can). It looks like the only way to truly get rid of them is to "kill" the tank and let it dry for a week or two and then start over with a batch of Daphnia from my 20 gallon tank. But I'm debating, since I've heard they're relatively, if not completely, harmless.

So any advice on whether it's worth the "trouble" to kill the tank would be helpful.

Thanks again for all the help !!!


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

IMO, since they're harmless, and are just an eyesore, and since they're in a daphnia tank and not a display tank, I'd say just leave it as it is.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

Well, while doing my weekly water change, I found the worms also in my bigger 20 gallon Daphnia tank, so I guess I'll have to leave them ... or "kill" both tanks and start over. BTW (as was mentioned in an earlier post), I've already tried Epsom salts to no avail, in fact, I add the salt during my weekly water change to keep the hardness levels and pH high.

My current decision is to leave them alone and try not to get them in the main fish tank. Or if they do get in, they'll get eaten. I hope so, as I saw it happen once by one of my fry when one of the worms found it's way into the "shrimp net".

We'll see what happens ...


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## &lt;=U=L=T=R=A=&gt; (Apr 21, 2010)

BelieveInBlue said:


> IMO, since they're harmless, and are just an eyesore, and since they're in a daphnia tank and not a display tank, I'd say just leave it as it is.


Its worth getting rid of them..

In my opinion is like having roaches just looking at them gets me


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

They look like nematodes as opposed to planaria. The only real difference in this case is a nematode is a roundworm and planaria are flatworms. They pretty much occupy the same niche, except that most smaller fish will gobble them up if they see them swimming in the water.

I had some crop up in my old 55 tang tank. They only really showed up when I disturbed the substrate when they would be squiggling through the water (I assume they spent the rest of their time in the substrate). The occies hunted them with a lot of enthusiasm.


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

mccluggen said:


> They look like nematodes as opposed to planaria. The only real difference in this case is a nematode is a roundworm and planaria are flatworms. They pretty much occupy the same niche, except that most smaller fish will gobble them up if they see them swimming in the water.
> 
> I had some crop up in my old 55 tang tank. They only really showed up when I disturbed the substrate when they would be squiggling through the water (I assume they spent the rest of their time in the substrate). The occies hunted them with a lot of enthusiasm.


Thank you !!! ... that makes sense, since they definitely are round from the what I can tell, not flat at all. They really haven't been growing in population that much either, so hopefully they're "under control". Now I'll have to do some research on nematodes !!!


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## olliesshop (Nov 21, 2010)

I realized I was feeding the Daphnia too much, so I cut back a lot on the feeding and the worms magically disappeared ... interesting !!!

I wish everything was that easy.


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