WORMS in gravel, good or bad?

[poimaster]

Are worms in gravel good or bad?

I was changing my water today and as I used the gravel cleaner I sucked up what I had previously thought to be fish poo. However on closer inspection they were wriggling and after reading recent posts on tapeworms etc I am worrying that these worms may be bad worms rather than good ones.

Photos attached please advise :?

The worms are about 1.5 cm long ...

[DiscusEden]

Have you been feeding live bloodworm?

[poimaster]

Have you been feeding live bloodworm?

No nothing live ...

[Merrilyn]

Live bloodworm is certainly what they look like. If you haven't been feeding live foods, then it's possible they came in on live plants that you bought at some stage.

Nothing much to worry about. Your fish will enjoy eating them if they can catch them. A few little cory catfish or clown loaches will make short work of them but you can cut the population down by doing a thorough gravel vac each time you do a water change.

Tapeworms are white, and much larger than that. Not usually seen in the gravel. They live in the host fish and sometimes you'll see the fish passing white segments, which are packets of worm eggs, waiting to be eaten by another host fish.

[ILLUSN]

I use to get theses a lot and never knew where they came from, after setting up 3 new tanks and feeding only tetrabits and hikari frozen bloodworms for 3-4 months they appeared in all 3 tanks, not really a problem the bigger fish LOVE them. i'm convinced they are coming from either the tetra bits (color bits) or the frozen worms. the worms are UV irradiated but as uv doesn't work well through glass, plastic or any clear substance, i assume it does bugger all when it comes to sterilizing a block of frozen worms :)

[poimaster]

I use to get theses a lot and never knew where they came from, after setting up 3 new tanks and feeding only tetrabits and hikari frozen bloodworms for 3-4 months they appeared in all 3 tanks, not really a problem the bigger fish LOVE them. i'm convinced they are coming from either the tetra bits (color bits) or the frozen worms. the worms are UV irradiated but as uv doesn't work well through glass, plastic or any clear substance, i assume it does bugger all when it comes to sterilizing a block of frozen worms :)

Hmm

I've been feeding frozen worms, maybe its a reconstituted bloodworm and a breakthrough for Cryonics (wiki it)

If it is bloodworm then won't these turn into mosquitos... next time I'll stirr up the gravel and see if I can get an experimental guppy to bite. Glad to hear that they aren't baddies. Thanks

[ILLUSN]

I've got a few spare small tanks empty at the moment, will put some sterile gravel in a couple and dump in some bloodworms and tera bits (in seperate tanks) and see which one gives me worms, whats the bet I get worms in both? any takers?

[Merrilyn]

As bloodworms are the lavae of a flying midge, I'll bet you get them in BOTH tanks unless you completely seal the tanks, so no flying insect can get in :wink:

[fishgeek]

doesnt look like blood worm to me

more like some nematode with the colouring being either vascular or more likely digestive tract through a transparent worm

ideally microscopy by someone who knows what they are doing, ie not me!
anyone still at uni? the biology/pathology departments may do it for nothing , and it would eb nice to know for sure

andrew

[ILLUSN]

For anyone who cares after months of effort, no such worms in either of the 2 tanks, however, in my 4x2x1.5 display tank i re-did the aquascape and guess what i found. so still no idea where they came from, they're not bloodworms I'm thinking mor of an earth/sandworm kinda thing about 5cm long when streached out!, anyway the 2 foot gibbi ate it up.

[Merrilyn]

LOL that's amazing.

Thanks for the update mate.

[poimaster]

For anyone who cares after months of effort, no such worms in either of the 2 tanks, however, in my 4x2x1.5 display tank i re-did the aquascape and guess what i found. so still no idea where they came from, they're not bloodworms I'm thinking mor of an earth/sandworm kinda thing about 5cm long when streached out!, anyway the 2 foot gibbi ate it up.

Thanks for following up ILLUSN - well so long as they do no harm...a mystery indeed.