Urgent help with identifying worms (possibly camallanus worms)

HI Everyone,
I'm new to the forum but am in desperate need of help. I set up a 55gal no tech planted tank around 3 or so months ago. The plan was to eventually bring some fish and shrimp into it. After everything was looking good, nitrates at 0ppm, KH at at ~107ppm and pH on a little of the high end but staying stable at ~7.8... I decided to go and buy 6 harlequin rasbora's and 3 Oto's (about a week and a half ago)... one of my oto's right from the start wasn't looking too good, being red and blotchy, so I removed it and put it in a little 1gal side tank... within 12 hours he died. Didn't think much of it though, as i'm sure moving him in there stressed him out and might have put the last nail in the coffin. Skip to today and I see this little mound of dirt near the java ferns, and there are these 3 little tentacles wiggling from the middle (As you can see in the video I took)... Well with the research i've done, I'm guessing it's Camallanus Worms... my other fish have been acting a little strange... a few a little blotted, and swimming upside down along some of the plants (I though they might be pregnant) ... but they are also spitting out a lot of the food (LFS tropical fish flakes)... which they never did before. Well the urgent part now, is that I've order from out of town a batch of cherry shrimp (20) and some MTS's and they arrive tomorrow... I don't really have anything to house them in until I figure out this worm problem

From what I've read, I know these worms are a very difficult problem to deal with. Although because the fish are so new, i'm wondering should I just return them, empty my tank, sterilize everything and hope the shrimp survive that long in a 5 gal bucket? or does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm also worried about my plants, which I've also spent a lot of money on, do they also need to be scrapped?

Here is a link to the video

 

I don't know what I'm looking at in the video but I'm curious. You say nitrates are at zero ... is the tank cycled? What is the ammonia and nitrite reading?

 

Did you feed tubifex lately ?

 

I've been only testing nitrates, pH and KH... so i'm not sure about ammonia or nitrites. I have not fed them anything besides fish flakes, 1 algae waffer and a blanched piece of zucchinI to see if the oto's would go after them... which both seem to only stick to the glass and sometimes I'll see them on the plants, but rarely.

When you say you don't know what you're looking at, do you not see the wiggling red tentacles? (only ~5mm) ... or you don't know what they are??

 

I've been only testing nitrates, pH and KH... so i'm not sure about ammonia or nitrites. I have not fed them anything besides fish flakes, 1 algae waffer and a blanched piece of zucchinI to see if the oto's would go after them... which both seem to only stick to the glass and sometimes I'll see them on the plants, but rarely.

When you say you don't know what you're looking at, do you not see the wiggling red tentacles? (only ~5mm) ... or you don't know what they are??

Both. I don't know what I'm looking for in the video and I'm really not familiar with different worms to identify them anyway.

How long has your tank been cycled? Do you have ammonia and nitrite tests? I'm wondering if this may be the cause of death to your other fish if you aren't cycled.

 

Only 1 fish has died, the others seem to be fine... my tank is heavily planted, lots of snails have been living in there since probably week 2... i'm coming up to 4 months now. fish have only been in there for a week or so.. but it's only the worms I am worried about, or more the effect they will have on my newly arrived shrimp/MTS's

As for the video, you're look at the mound of dirt just to the left of the center of the screen. there are 3 redish hair/tentacles wiggling around.. they are pretty much the only thing moving once I zoomed in.

I guess the big question now is: What do I do? Can I put my new shrimp in? Do I get ride of the fish? Do I empty and bleach everything and basically start over? and if so how far back should I go? eI with plants, cleaning, snails...ect

New Update: Siphoned out the worms, they are long thin red worms... wiggling lots... I looked up tubifex and the wiggling head from the dirt seems like it's very usual for those... so my last thing would be, can someone identify this worm for me and confirm it is a tubifex (which is not harmful to my aquarium right?)

 

Again, not sure about worms, but water quality will be a concern for adding shrimps. You really need to be able to monitor ammonia and nitrites as well. Shrimps are very sensitive to both. And since the fish have only been in there for a short time, those levels may have very well spiked.

 

Thanks for your help... I did have someone at a LPS identify it as only a tubifex.. So that was a big relief. Added the shrimp after about 4 hours of acclimation and they are looking good and seem to be enjoying their new home.

 

Just saw you edited your previous post ... I see worms now! lol I'm going to let someone else identify them though!

Good luck with your shrimps!

 

Feeding live tubifex worms is dangerous because they can carry parasites or other worms
Get the frozen or freeze dried kind, much safer
an ounce of preventation........