Worms In Filter?

My 40 gallon tank has been up, running and cycled for over a year. I feed largely frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp. Yesterday when I performed a water change and cleaned my filters the pads were slimy which is frequently the case, but when I washed them many worms about 1/2 inch long washed into the bucket. Are these coming from my fish? I have 4 small green puffer's and a few danios and 6 cory cats. I have white sand and explored it carefully yesterday; no worms. The only place I found them was in the two filters. I have never seen any stringy white poop and the fish look to be in good health. Will worming the fish eliminate the problem?

 

I'm not sure...
But I have Detritus worms in my tank. They are harmless...just like earthworms but in an aquarium, they are compost worms!
Can you get a picture of your worms? Some can be deadly but Detritus worms live in the substrate...


These are Detritus worms.

 

These worms seem to have round head and tapering bodies when I put them on a flat surface. I am trying to figure out how to post a photo on the forum.

 

They could be detritus worms living *in* your filter -- I just discovered I had a rather unpleasant case of them, very likely due to food getting sucked into the filter and accumulating there. Do you have a sponge or prefilter that would prevent food particles from getting sucked up into the filter body?

 

I have sponge filters, but have never seen the worms before. I can certainly use one as a prefilter. I was just so shocked to see them, but puffer's are dirty little guys if this is what they are, I should not be surprised. I put them in a jar last night, and they are still active despite the fact that the house temp went to 55 last night and they have no heater. I guess they don't like the fine white sand. It doesn't hold debris like gravel would.