white worms in community tank

[germanblue]

hi everyone
need some help, requesting info about worms found in my community tank while doing water change. they are white 1/8" maybe 1/4" long moving in zig zag like mosquito larvae. i found them syphoning the sand. not sure but seems like parasites.
is there something i can do to elimminate them? salt can work? if yes, how much?
i'm really worried about.
regards

[sharn]

my first thought was planaria?

[germanblue]

nop, don't think so. planaria have an arrow head and mostly brown body. what i unfortunately have in my tank is like an earth worm, but instead are very tiny and have white/clear body and move trough the water in an sssssss movement.

none of my fish are sick, they are eating well and doesn't look stressed but this monsters worried me.

[Merrilyn]

Hi germanblue. They certainly sound like a form of planaria. I have seen the same things in my tanks, especially if I have been overfeeding.

They are unsightly, but really nothing to worry about. If you had a group of guppies in your tank, they would find them delicious

The way to cut down the population is to increase your water changes, along with more frequent gravel vacuuming, and reduce the amount of food you are giving in that tank for a few weeks.

You'll never completely eliminate them, but you can certainly reduce the population.

[G-1000]

Yes I would agree with LR.

I have had a similar thing happen in an african cichlid tank.

I increased the rate of gravel vacs and even removed some of the gravel. Eventually I got rid of them completely as a was doing 50% w/c daily gravel-vacing the whole time for about a week. As you can tell I was very worried about them.

haha

G

[germanblue]

thank u all of u, now i'm relax. so, today i made a 90% w/c and sand were well cleaned. next will post a pics of my tank with any of this alien, just to confirm they are what u say.
best regards

gb

[geral]

hello there
what u are describing sounds more like nematodes. Nematodes are roundworms... they are one of the most successful and widespread group of organisms to populate this world (second only to bacteria)... nematodes are found from the far reaches of the polar ice caps to the hottest tropical forests to the depths of the ocean floor where no light has ever reached. As ladyred said both types of worm are totally harmless to fish in themselves, and live on excessive nutrients in the tank.
However, although these worms themselves won't hurt your fish, you may want to consider whether or not you are overfeeding or overcrowding your tank... these two factors are HUGE killers in beginner's setups. To get rid of your worm problem, try not feeding your fish for 3 days (no, this is not cruel... healthy fish will do fine with an occasional short fast, and it will improve their water quality) and giving your tank a good cleaning with a 50% water change for a week. If you keep small fish, some of them may actually enjoy chowing down on the little worms... guppies and platies, for example, love them. If you keep your tank clean, your filter well maintained, stay true to not overstocking your tank, and do regular water changes, your worm problem should be gone in no time.

hope to b useful
geral

[germanblue]

really think they are nematodes. i really appreciate your comments.
thank u all again

[fishgeek]

leeches?, do they swim or inch?

nematodes can be pathogens? camallanus for instance

andrew