Extremely tiny worms all over glass!

[Jeffcameron]

I have literally hundreds of extremely small whitish worms all over the glass of my Cichlid tank that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. The biggest ones are about 4mm in length but most are about 2mm in length.

What are they and could they be harmful?

I am worried because my GT and Blue Acara have not been eating much lately so I'm worried something is majorly wrong. Because they've not been eating there is a bit of food on the ground but not too much as I did a good vacuum on Sat. The only change I've made is add some terracotta to the tank. It was bought as a brand new pot from a shop which I broke and rinsed really well before putting in the tank.

I have read about planaria and nematodes but my worms seem much smaller. I tried taking a photo but they are too small to show up. On the second photo the tiny smudges are the worms. You really can't see them though.

Please help.

 

[Aquarist]

Good morning Jeff.

Sounds like Planaria, link below:




They become harmful once they're over populated. Some fish may eat them. Hopefully the links above will help you.

Ken

 

[Jeffcameron]

Good morning Jeff.

Sounds like Planaria, link below:




They become harmful once they're over populated. Some fish may eat them. Hopefully the links above will help you.

Ken

Thanks Ken after reading the articles it does sound like it could be Planaria. The cases I'd read about on the forum gave me the impression they were bigger than the worms I had but the article you've shown me says they can range from 1mm-20mm so maybe I've just caught them at an early stage. It is quite alarming how many I can see though.

So a really good clean of everything appears to be the first step.

 

[Aquarist]

Beautiful tank and fish Jeff.

It's going to take some water changes for sure to get rid of them. They can be a frustrating critter from what I understand. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with them personally.

Glad to help!
Ken

 

[Jeffcameron]

Beautiful tank and fish Jeff.

It's going to take some water changes for sure to get rid of them. They can be a frustrating critter from what I understand. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with them personally.

Glad to help!
Ken

Cheers Ken! You're a great help. They only seem to be on the glass though so will water changes help? I was thinking of good gravel vacs (which of course comes with water changes if that's what you were meaning) and using a Magnet cleaner to get them off the surface of the glass.

 

[Aquarist]

What you've mentioned Jeff sounds great Gravel Vacs/ water changes, cleaning the glass.

Since you have multiple tanks, something you may want to consider is a Vortex Diatom Filter. This will surely rid your tank of the parasites too. Link below. I have the XL and the D1. I also use the Diatom Powder.


For multiple tanks and large tanks I highly recommend them.

Ken

 

[Jeffcameron]

Yeah that does look good. I may have to invest in something like that if the cheaper methods don't work out. Especially when I upgrade to a 120G later in the year. Thanks again Ken

 

[Bad Wolf]

are they really thin, and thread like?

 

[Shawnie]

I get them allot also LOL ..its usually caused by overfeeding and gravel vacs/water changes are what gets rid of them...they don't usually bother fish but they will eat any eggs fish may spawn....

are they really thin, and thread like?

yes they are

 

[Bad Wolf]

I have seen similar things you've described in my old axolotl tank. They didn't seem to harm him, but they did swarm in the hundreds. I did plenty of water changes to get rid of them. They are still unidentified to me now, but a few times I put them in my main tank to see what my fish would make of them, and it turned out that my angels loved eating them, lol.

 

[Jeffcameron]

are they really thin, and thread like?

Yes they are tiny and really thin.

I have seen similar things you've described in my old axolotl tank. They didn't seem to harm him, but they did swarm in the hundreds. I did plenty of water changes to get rid of them. They are still unidentified to me now, but a few times I put them in my main tank to see what my fish would make of them, and it turned out that my angels loved eating them, lol.

Hmm I'd love to give my angels a treat but I think my GT would not take to kindly if I put them in with him haha.

Thanks everyone for the responses and help