100% water change on 1gallon shrimp tank possible?

[snailaquarium]

Omg! I have this evening taken out one litre of water and I noticed at least one of the creatures I wanted to remove but at least two small worms of some sort! I'm guessing they arrived with the new guppy grass I got!

 

[snailaquarium]

In a bit concerned there is now a worm infestation in the aquarium. It seems I've gone from removing one unwanted creature to gaining another. I have several days ago put in a clean moss ball that was one of five I've had since the start of November, and yet today it had lots of little lines on it, I had assumed it was like snail faeces but having only recently noticed the tiny one worm in the aquarium I now realise it might be worms. I'm going to photograph it and then see how it looks tomorrow. Are there any products that can kill the worms and leave the shrimp and snails OK?

Am I stressing over nothing? Do worms contribute to an aquarium?

 

[snailaquarium]

8-Holes Aquarium Acrylic Catcher Trap Tube Trapper for Tank Planaria Worm UK | eBay

1x Planaria trapper. When they eat their fill, they could not crawl out of the trapper. The trap has a lid to it which makes it a lot easier to dispose of the worm. - Having 8 holes. Our goal is to make sure that you can find exactly what you are looking for and make it easy for you to place...

www.ebay.co.uk

Do these work on tiny worms?? Like 1mm thick by 4mm long?

 

[Barry Tetra]

8-Holes Aquarium Acrylic Catcher Trap Tube Trapper for Tank Planaria Worm UK | eBay

1x Planaria trapper. When they eat their fill, they could not crawl out of the trapper. The trap has a lid to it which makes it a lot easier to dispose of the worm. - Having 8 holes. Our goal is to make sure that you can find exactly what you are looking for and make it easy for you to place...

www.ebay.co.uk

Do these work on tiny worms?? Like 1mm thick by 4mm long?

Yes, it worked, I trapped 6 kuhli loaches in there and 2 snails

 

[snailaquarium]

Yes, it worked, I trapped 6 kuhli loaches in there and 2 snails

A khuli loach from what I've seen on the Internet is tens of thousands if not millions of times bigger than the worms I described I have and the whole reason why it works is that it makes the worm fat so much it can't crawl out, I doubt this is an issue for my worms.

On the plus side having quarantined my moss ball it does not appear to have worms so I might have mistaken snail poop or plant debris for the worms, of which I have seen 2 different species.

 

[snailaquarium]

Here the King of DIY uses salt to kill snails and unwanted pests on plants, I just though would I get away with doing this to my snail aquarum if I remove the snails, put in salt, leave for 20 minutes then clear out all the water, put the snails back in? Would small plants or the moss balls which I could freeze again in theory, survive the salt?

 

[Colin_T]

Virtually all aquatic plants will tolerate salt at a dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water. If you increase the salt level to 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water, some plants will die. However, if the plants are only in the salt water for 10-15 minutes, they should be fine with 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

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You should not freeze live plants because the moisture in their cells develops crystals when frozen, and these damage the cells when they are defrosted. This kills the plant.

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

What do the worms look like?

 

[snailaquarium]

What do the worms look like?

so small you barely see them, 1mm wide 5-10mm long. white or translucent even.

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

so small you barely see them, 1mm wide 5-10mm long. white or translucent even.

they sound like detritus worms. They are not harmful to you shrimp, fish etc