Tiny Hair Like Worms

I was doing a full tank clean just now because 3 fish have died in the past day and 1 is acting weird/hiding and I found a ton of tiny worms near/in the gravel like I could only see them in the pitcher I was using when they moved. What are they? The only new fish in my tank are 2 Cory cats and a swordtail. How to I get rid of the worms besides cleaning the tank? Medicine wise. Like are the worms in my fish. I used a fish net to get all my rocks out to avoid touching them because I didn't have gloves. Am I safe like can they hurt me? Sorry I have a phobia of worms, I'm only okay with earth worms.

 

If they're hair-like, they're probably detritus worms, which are harmless and they live off of uneaten food and that sorts of stuff. If you see a ton of them, you might be overfeeding and thus allowing them to really flourish. You can kill them by dosing fenbendazole, although I wouldn't recommend it because these worms are ubiquitous and killing them off all at once could cause an ammonia spike, which is obviously harmful to your fish. What are your parameters?

 

I don't have a testing kit so I don't know the parameters. I want to get one but as I'm only 16 so it takes a while to save money. But I do my best to keep my tank clean with regular partial water changes. Also thank you for replying I was worried my fish were getting hurt.

 

Yes, they can be quite the initial investment. As fellow young, low-budget fish enthusiasts, I'll tell you that while most stores sell the API Test Kit for 35 USD, Amazon sells them for 20 bucks, which is quite the amount of savings. I trust that you are doing your best with keeping the water clean, but the fact that some of your fish has been dying concerns me. Have they been acting strangely prior to their deaths? Any signs of sickness?

 

Two of my male glofish showed signs of illness, both of their spins were bent like their tails were drooping. One day they were fine and the next they were not. My male swordtail is hiding today he's the only male and he's normally swimming around chasing his reflection.

 

Was it never bent before? If so, I'm afraid you are very unlucky

 

Excuse my lack of art skills but I didn't get any photos of my glofish so I drew a lovely illustration. No their spines weren't bent before. It just happened over night.

Do you know what could have caused their backs to do that?

 

Lol, it's okay. Fish doodles on math homework, I do that as well

I don't have any experience with it, but the crooking of the spines is one of the symptoms of fish TB. You may want to look into it and determine for yourself whether or not your stock has fish TB. Again, I'm not sure, so I can't say anything right now except that you might want to check it out.