Worms Found In Powerhead Filter.

Hello everyone.

Recently, I noticed these worms populating the filter media in my aquarium (pictures included).

They are small, brown, mainly immobile worms. I thought that they were some kind of fungI or algae because they didn't seem to move at all when I was removing some of them last week.

But today I observed them closely with a flashlight, and a couple of them made small movements through the filter media, thus confirming that they are indeed worms. I am preoccupied that they might affect the fish. I think these worms are eating the brown gunk that forms in the filter media and I'm not sure if it will affect the biological filter.

What should I do? Is this common?

Thanks in advance.

 

I would be interested in seeing what everyone thinks...I changed my filter the other day and it looked different than before with brown algae like fibers now I wish I would have paid more attention....I thought maybe it had something to do with switching from gravel to sand....

 

Are they Detritus worms?

 

Are you sure they're worms? If they are worms, I would expect they're harmless, but that still looks like gunk to me. Can you get a close up pic?

Regardless of what they are, you can rinse your filter media in old tank water or dechlorinated water to get most of the gunk/worms off.

 

Update: Found more of them in the rest of the tank and not only in the filter. They really look like fish waste, but the ones that are inside the filter were moving!

I couldn't get any more pictures due to unforeseen guest visitors. Tomorrow I will clean it well and try to remove them if I have the chance (they are very sticky to surfaces and can only be removed by crushing it with fingers or with some kind of brush).

Does anybody seen something like this?

 

Do you feed bloodworms? That or waste would be my guess.

They might look like they're moving in the filter because of the water moving through it.

 

Do you feed bloodworms? That or waste would be my guess.

They might look like they're moving in the filter because of the water moving through it.

Nope, I have only introduced some Elodea and and Parrot-Feather plants that were in an outside pond of a friend. I am sure they are worms because they were moving in a slow fluid-like way in the filter.

 

Which could be due to water flow throughout the filter Regardless, rinsing the media and gravel vaccing the tank well should help remove them!