# free swimming white worms



## brunsyeah (Jan 4, 2004)

I have these little worms i've noticed in the last week free swimming(squiggling) in my aquarium. They range in size from about 1/4" to 1/2" long and millimeters thick at the most, very skinny. They are living in the filter is my guess cause when I turn the filter off for a period of time they come pouring out after i turn it on. I've only noticed them out of one filter but i presume if they are in one they are in all the filters. They look and act exactly like a regular worm, but they are white and very small as described earlier. When the filter is on they get sucked back in, I presume as after the filter is on for a while they dissapear. I would take a pic but I seem to have lost my cord to transmit from the digital camera. If anyone is familiar with this as a description then please tell what it is and if its a problem, or if its beneficial to the ecological system. If its a problem i figure i can just clean/replace the filters and see what that does. All parameters are zero as I just had them checked yesterday to make sure.


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## vtecbro007 (Feb 11, 2004)




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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

They are called planeria and are a result of overfeeding, or failure to adequatly get all the waste out of your tank. Do they roam around even after your fitlers are off?

vtec - it is impossible to get pics of this bad boy, they are too small


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## brunsyeah (Jan 4, 2004)

ya its hard enough for me to find them let alone get a pic of them. I went to Aquarium Adventure, a pretty reputable fish only store, and explained to them what was going on. They said that these little things were tubifex worms and they were living on the filter cause that is where the most "food" for them are. They said they are not bad but just to get change/clean filter material and that should take care of them


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

brunsyeah said:


> ya its hard enough for me to find them let alone get a pic of them. I went to Aquarium Adventure, a pretty reputable fish only store, and explained to them what was going on. They said that these little things were tubifex worms and they were living on the filter cause that is where the most "food" for them are. They said they are not bad but just to get change/clean filter material and that should take care of them


 Yeah make sure you thouroughly clean your filters regularly.


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## ItWasnValentine (Feb 15, 2004)

I got a similar problem, except in my tank they are just white dots. My tank is fairly new but they weren't there before so I doubt that its anything like dust.

I don't even know how to describe, I guess I could say they look like microscopic air bubbles and they're just "floating around" all over. I did a water change but that didn't seem to help the problem. Anyone got any ideas?

I dunno maybe it is some kind of dust, but my filter doesn't take care of it. I dunno what to do and its buggin me out.

Edit: Are live plants a good thing or a bad thing in this case? I can't decide whether they help basteria grow or they help fight it.. :\


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## skorpion (Feb 6, 2004)

I had the same problem and all i did was a 20% water change and added salt to tank seems to have worked give it a try


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## ItWasnValentine (Feb 15, 2004)

I don't have any aquarium salt. Is it possible to add regular salt or is it totally different? I have a 15g tank.


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## brunsyeah (Jan 4, 2004)

i have added regular salt for a while, i just buy the kind without iodine or dide i forget which table salt has, but ya its fine, even the kind with iodi** wont hurt in the short run, but next time you go to grocery pick up kind without it


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## ItWasnValentine (Feb 15, 2004)

And how much do I add? New tank, so I'm new to all this stuff.


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## skorpion (Feb 6, 2004)

Add 3 tablespoons 1 tblspoon per each 5 gal that should be enough :nod:


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## ItWasnValentine (Feb 15, 2004)

1 tblspoon per 5 liters? Doesn that kinda sound a lot?


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## killarbee (Jan 23, 2004)

not liters !! gallons !! 1 US gallon = 3.7854118 liters you do the math for your tank


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## ItWasnValentine (Feb 15, 2004)

oh oops, I swear I read liters









*slaps himself silly*


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## brunsyeah (Jan 4, 2004)

i know this is derailing a thread, but its my own thread
Someone please remove that "this thread is worthless without pics" from vtec bro. seriously there is more to posting, than putting that in everyones thread. ask for a pic if you really think you need one but no need to post if your just going to put that for everyone 
this is cut and pasted from the original post "I would take a pic but I seem to have lost my cord to transmit from the digital camera."
*seriously im not even going to comment on that


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Just remove leftovers, vacuum your gravel and 30% partial water change and put some feeders that will eat any worm left :nod: !


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