JMatt1983

my 10G is full of little white wiggling things, I know that they some sort of parasite, need to know what to d to get rid of them! my 10G holds my red tail shark, an oto cat, an 2 pink tetras

lolagurl

oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...cant u scoop em out for now or are they too small...could they be fry...?

JMatt1983

definatly not fry, my shark and tetras would eat them if they were. I think its anchor worm, but Im not 100% sure of that, hoping that one of the experts here can verify that

shollia

I'm having the same problem you are! I think the wiggly worms in mine are planaria. Didn't notice anything earlier today, then a few hours ago, go to check on my fish and these things are ALL OVER the glass. It's really gross
Not planning on feeding fish tomorrow and giving the gravel a really good cleaning to try to get rid of them.

JMatt1983

yea, i didn't have any problems in that tank until I cleaned the filter, before that, had crystal clear water, everything was fine, shut the filter down for 10minutes for thorough cleaning(in used tank water and cotton swabs) and the water went murky, and all these little white things appeared in the tank

lolagurl

eww thats gross..how does that happen..did u both just get new fish..if so i would take them back get new ones or ask for a refund..so they dont infect the others..i dont know

shollia

From what I understand and have read, planaria aren't really harmful to your fish, and if you fish see them, might actually eat them up.

I think mine showed up b/c of overfeeding and ammonia has been rising again AND it seems as though my gravel has been extremely dirt for some reason lately. I've been vacuuming it as usual, but I guess I need to do it more often.

Just.. *shudders* I'm so paranoid about worms.. specially any parasitic kind... even if they aren't harmful.

lolagurl

maybe if what ur saying is right, maybe its not that ur not changing it enough, do u have any snails or algae eaters those might help i have to get a snail tomorrow

shollia

No more fish in there right now. My tank is still cycling and I'm not planning on adding in anymore atm.

I've been doing daily water changes, but haven't been vacuuming the gravel every day b/c I had wanted bacteria to establish in the rocks. *shrugs*
I'm gonna have to do a big water change tomorrow..... 50% or a little bit more.
Really hope these things just go away... bleh.

Butterfly

Those are most likely planeria. They are present to some extent all the time. They feed on exces food and waste in the tank. With an increase in either of those they will multiply. Fish will usually eat them and it won't hurt them, sort of like live food. Vacumming the gravel thoroughly and doing several big water changes will bring them under control. Evaluate how much your feeding and how often your doing tank maintenance. When you clean your filter media if you will rinse it in used tank water that will preserve your beneficial bacteria.
Carol

lolagurl

ewww..theres some in there all the time...gross!

JMatt1983

thanks for the advice butterfly, i've been transfering fish from my 10 to my 20G tank, and i've been trying to judge how much food to feed the fish that are leftin my 10, turns out my tetras aren't as big of eaters as my platies are

Butterfly

You'll get the feeding amounts figured out A couple of good vacuums and water changes will take care of the problem. Maybe the tetras are eating the worms is why their not as hungry as the platies. Keep a watch on your Nitrates until you get the wigglies under control.
Carol

Terry

I just did a search in Google on "Planaria Aquarium" & came up with this link to several good websites about them:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=planaria+aquarium

They aren't a problem themselves, but indicate there may be too much waste/uneaten food in the tank. It even sounds like they would be good food for some fish.

When I first read this I thought they might be tubifex worms. I used to feed live ones to my cichlids when I was breeding them, and after a while the ones that weren't eaten were breeding in the gravel and the whole bottom of the tank looked like a mat of wriggling brown grass - pretty disgusting to look at till I could clean it.