There are worms in my aquarium.

[Sauceboat]

I was watching my fish today and my attention was called to tiny white steaks on the aquarium glass. After a few moments of looking at them I realized they were in fact worms. I have a culture of microworms and they look exactly like that except for the movement is less of an S shaped wiggle and more of a gradually slugging around curving slither and they are so small that you don’t realize they are worms unless you focus really hard. They must have hitchhiked on my Nerite snail (the only non-quarantined member of the tank) and I’m concerned that they will multiply. Are they detritus worms? What are these and how do I get rid of them? There are about 20 of them on each wall of the aquarium. Please help.

 

[EbiAqua]

Pics? Sounds more like rhabdocoela or planaria.

 

[Sauceboat]

My camera is awful and the worms are really small so the image is pretty bad but you can still make it out. I don’t think it’s planarian, I’ve cared for planarian in my biology class for a year and so I’ve got a good idea of what they look like. These are much smaller and bright white in color. They could be rhabdocoela.

 

[idkausernamesoyeah]

seems like detritus worms. how often do u do water changes? how do u clean the gravel? do u at all? detritus worms appear when there is an excess of waste and feed off of it, no harm in having them, just worried ur water parameters rnt very good bc theres most likely a lot of stuff breaking down in uf tank

 

[EbiAqua]

I'm gonna say rhabdocoela. They are harmless flatworms that tend to stick to the glass and move in a slow, slithering motion. They are no threat to any of your livestock and many fish will eat them. A few worms are a sign of a healthy, established tank. If you see too many, back off on how much you feed.

 

[idkausernamesoyeah]

I'm gonna say rhabdocoela. They are harmless flatworms that tend to stick to the glass and move in a slow, slithering motion. They are no threat to any of your livestock and many fish will eat them. A few worms are a sign of a healthy, established tank. If you see too many, back off on how much you feed.

from what i have seen its because theres too much stuff decomposing and when u dont gravel vac thats how they thrive and r actually noticeable. i only saw them in the very beginning of keeping fish, but now that ik what im doing i dont see them at all rly

 

[EbiAqua]

from what i have seen its because theres too much stuff decomposing and when u dont gravel vac thats how they thrive and r actually noticeable. i only saw them in the very beginning of keeping fish, but now that ik what im doing i dont see them at all rly

They thrive in my shrimp tanks, I sometimes see clusters of them, but in tanks with fish they are a lot less common. They are detritus feeders so overfeeding will increase their numbers, but also an absence of predators.

 

[Sauceboat]

seems like detritus worms. how often do u do water changes? how do u clean the gravel? do u at all? detritus worms appear when there is an excess of waste and feed off of it, no harm in having them, just worried ur water parameters rnt very good bc theres most likely a lot of stuff breaking down in uf tank

I’ve had some issues with a bacterial and algae bloom (at the same time), because as you said there is a lot of decay in the tank (new plants in transition) so I’ve been doing a 20% water change every other day to make sure the water parameters don’t get out of hand. When I do those changes I use a siphon hose to just clean off any surface debris from the gravel and try to clean up the dead parts of the transitioning plants a bit. But as far as a full stir up the gravel giant siphon cleaning goes I haven’t done it on this tank yet as it is dirted below the substrate for my carpet plants and I don’t want to turn up the dirt and cause water parameter spikes. But to that extent, I have heavy root feeding plants to suck up really anything that ends up decaying below the substrate level and the tank is only two months old and very understocked so I don’t think buildup beneath the substrate is a huge is.

Thank you for all that information! Very helpful!