Aquarium worms

[Humbug]

Hi all,

In my 24" community tank there seems to be some small worms in the tank. They come up when i stir up the substrate, they are about 6mm long, very very thin and white/transparent in colour. They seem to be able to swim, there are no worms visibly attached to the fish and no fish are ill. Should i be worried? do i need to drain the tank and clean the substrate?
What are they can anyone help?

Cheers, Humbug

 

[andyt_uk]

i occasionally see similar things - someone on here told me what they were
cant remember exactly, but they are harmless

 

[Feline]

Don't worry. They r nice snacks for fishies!!

 

[Cian McLiam]

These are harmless planarians. They could be a sign of overfeeding or decaying plant/fish. If they are increasing in numbers, I would do 10% daily water changes with aged water, cleaning as much of the gravel as you can as you go. Dont add any treatments for this they wont have any effect!
For more info on planarians, do a search of the forums as they crop up pretty regularly here.
Good Luck!

Ken

 

[snowyangel]

I heard that from feeding freeze dried worms, the worms become alive and most that aren't eaten go into the rocks . It may sounds far fetched but thats what i heard. I feed my fish tubifex worms and have never seen any....

 

[Cian McLiam]

I doubt they come back alive, the process most freeze dried products go through is pretty nasty! They are irradiated and then frozen obviously so the cahnce of the worms or any hitchiking parasites survivng that is non-existant.
BTW I heard of a salesman at a LFS eating four cubes of frozen bloodworm for a bet, he's still alive (I think?!)

Ken

 

[Humbug]

Thanks for the replies guys. This is why this site is great, there is such a wealth of knowledge over a vast span to call upon.

many thanks

Humbug