Do I Have Planaria Or Detritus Worms (or Something Else)

[PatriceK]

HI all,

I FINALLY got my tank cycled and picked up two platies to start my 20 gallon tank (I'll get two more in a week). I looked in on the tank regularly as I had it cycle and never saw these worms before. Now that I added the fish, a day later I started seeing these little worms.

Only ever one at a time, but there is usually one visible on my glass at least every hour. I have only seen one swimming around and then it attached to the glass. All others I have been able to video I have seen on the glass. Also, they seem to leave this weird film on the glass where they have attached and crawled (pictured below).

Do I have the dreaded planaria worms or just detritus worms? If I have planaria, how best to go about getting rid of them? Should I be concerned? Could they be rhabdocoela instead? They don't seem to have the arrow like head or eyes like planaria. Unfortunately the pictures looked much better on my phone, here they are pretty grainy. This is the most clear one I got (the two worms in the photo is actually it's reflection- it's really just 1 worm).

I have only had my fish two days- they both are eating well and active. I don't think I have been overfeeding as they have only had three meals total and have eaten all the food as far as I have seen. Water is ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates 15 ppm. I just did a 90% water change on Tuesday and cleaned all my decorations the week before.

Any feedback would be great!

 

[richiep]

It looks like planaria, take a look at the link it may give you a better understanding

 

[Briggs]

The first picture looks like rhabdocoela to me, but I'm not sure what to make of the second. I've never had anything in any of my tanks leave trails like that before.

Whatever they are, your fish will likely make snacks of them and help keep the population in check once you're more heavily stocked. You might feed lightly for a while to discourage the worms from breeding and encourage you fish to hunt them. Usually anything that isn't hanging off/out of your fish is pretty harmless.

 

[PatriceK]

Thank you all! I will feed a little bit less for the time being, continue to stock my tank at an acceptable rate and see what happens. They don't seem to be bothering my fish, so I will keep an eye on it. Don't want to have to use chemicals unless absolutely necessary. Thanks again

 

[coralbandit]

Picture is not clear enough to tell what worm .Planaria have a triangle shaped head and crosseyes…


Good info but I would stay away from the product.
Flubendazole 10 % powder is my choice of treaments if you choose to treat.
Best for eliminating Hydra. Treats protozoa wasting disease, serious treatment for Velvet, enternal and external parasites, 1/4 teaspoon of 10 % powder treats about 20 gallons of water for most parasitic Protozoa. Eliminate Carbon filtration during treatment. Change most of the water after 10 days. Will not harm plants, Prolonged use will kill most snails. ........
The second picture looks like snail snot !
Got any snails that you know of ???

 

[Crafty Cichlid]

If they aren't attaching to the fish, they're probably okay.

 

[PatriceK]

Picture is not clear enough to tell what worm .Planaria have a triangle shaped head and crosseyes…


Good info but I would stay away from the product.
Flubendazole 10 % powder is my choice of treaments if you choose to treat.
Best for eliminating Hydra. Treats protozoa wasting disease, serious treatment for Velvet, enternal and external parasites, 1/4 teaspoon of 10 % powder treats about 20 gallons of water for most parasitic Protozoa. Eliminate Carbon filtration during treatment. Change most of the water after 10 days. Will not harm plants, Prolonged use will kill most snails. ........
The second picture looks like snail snot !
Got any snails that you know of ???

Thank you! I do not have any snails that I have seen in the 5 weeks I have cycled the tank. I actually saw one of the worms leave this trail on the glass as I watched. Very weird.

 

[richiep]

planaria also leave a trail like land slugs and that's what the second picture suggests to me

 

[PatriceK]

I haven't seen the worms in a day or two, so I am hoping they just tagged along when I got my fish as I netted them into my tank and are now dead from lack of food or being eaten. Hopefully this stays this way!

 

[Crafty Cichlid]

They'll mostly stick to the dirt and sand eating waste. You won't see them often, but they won't hurt anything. It's a neat little ecosystem thing.