I have lots of small white worms on my aquarium glass.What are these?
by Aquaboy on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | 10 Comments
one fish died today and the others left are itching themselves on the gravel.This is a new 2 week old aquarium.
I’m pretty sure its a paracite. 1 of your fish probably had it and passed it on to the others. I reccomend you clen out the tank now since that fish died. I really have no clue, but someone else might answer.
if this is a slatwater tank, then the worms are a normal part of the tank. and if the fich have white tiny spots on themselves, that is called ick. you can treat your tank with a treatment called ick, you can get this just about anywhere fich are sold
Yucks..
They are those really dirty worms that comes from left over food…
You gonna redo you tank!
they are those tt will stick to ur fishes n bite them slowly.. really painful for them… After they have bitten of the 1st layer, they wil go into the internal organs..
When feeding blood/black worms, u gonna put them in water first n slowly put them in without the water…
Your fish are itching because your nitrites are too high. And if your nitrite is too high then your ammonia levels are probably soaring too.
Did you cycle the tank for 2-4 weeks before adding fish? It is absolutely necessary when setting up a new aquarium. In nature, a fish’s habitat has been around for years and years before fish started living there. That means any beneficial mini-ecosystem needed to sustain life has been there long before the fish. When you toss fish in a new aquarium you’re basically asking them to kick start something that took years to build up properly in nature. Its called the nitrogen cycle. Nothing is instant when it comes to life or science.
Now, for the worms. They are probably Planaria. I assume you have live plants? Planaria is harmless but they are thriving because your whole aquarium is out of sync. Your fish will actually eat it sometimes. Google Planaria and I bet 10 points that its what you see in your aquarium.
Planaria looks like a slug, usually white colored with an arrow shaped head. Small, thin white worms, they swim in an S shape when disturbed, or you’ll see them on the glass-they look like hairs almost, those are called nematodes. Both planaria and nematodes are harmless contrary to what everyone else has said here….with the exception of some planaria varieties will eat fish eggs or small fry.
Both are common in planted tanks, but you could bring them in with fish or anything really. They thrive in tanks where the fish are overfed/lots of uneaten food on the bottom or in the gravel, or not enough water changes and gravel vacuums are being done. But you DO NOT have to break down your tank, or they’re not causing your fish to scratch, etc. etc.
Planaria photo:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/articles/critters/planaria1JOHNSON.jpg
The fish that are itching themselves….it’s not related to the worms. They’re either getting ready to come down with an ich infection, due to the fact that they’re new or because they’re stressed from the water quality.
Or, they’re itching because of the water quality itself and not a parasite infection. Poor water quality, meaning any presence of ammonia or nitrites irritates the fish’s skin and gills and can cause them to scratch or rub on objects.
New tanks go through what’s called the cycle process or the nitrogen cycle, see link:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm
And the cycle takes anywhere from 6-12 weeks on average to complete, not 2-4 weeks like mentioned. Get yourself a good test kit that tests ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Don’t treat for a parasite infection just yet, only treat when you know what you’re treating. If you start seeing white spots on the fish, usually starts on the fins, looks like someone sprinkled the fish with salt, then you’re dealing with an ich infection and will need to treat.
you guys are all wrong. They are little worms that crawl in the tank if you cahnge your water nothing will happen they’ll be there no matter what. You need to get a pleco and he’ll just eat them off the walls. They are not harmful to your fish. ive had them and after i got a pleco they were gone
Gabe and Tikitiki are right. I’ve have 6 tanks all of which use to have those little worms. In one tank, I put a pair of plecostomus (or plecos). Now, in that tank there are no more little planaria. In 4 of my other tanks I frequently changed the water, for a month, and now the population of the worms have gone down to nothing. Although the slugs don’t harm your fish they are very annoying and gross. If you really want to ANNIHILATE or kill the slugs in LESS THAN 5 MINUTES then take all plants and fish out of the tank and into separate containers. Then get some laundry detergent or bleach and poor a small amount into your fish tank. If you have a 20 gallon tank I suggest that you use two tablespoons of detergent. Rinse your tank out VERY thoroughly until all the soap is gone. Then slowly start introducing your plants and fish back into their aquarium. I suggest filling your tank back up with water, putting the plants back in, then your fish. All of the methods above worked for my tanks. Good luck!
what if these paracites turn into little bugs?? cause i cant seem to get rid off them. they not going into the water they just chilling on the bottoms of the tank lids.
and i’ve used bleach. didnt work
you have what i have copper will kill it so will quick cure but u gotta treat it before it kills ur fish