@colin, and anyone else, help please! Worms found in tank...

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Have been emptying 57g tank to tear it down, but still skimming and checking the net for tiny shrimplets while removing substrate. I then started finding these small, skinny red worms in the tank. Alive and squirming, and there are quite a few of them. Seem too small/skinny to bloodworms, and I haven't fed bloodworms in a long time either... detritius worms aren't red either, are they? So have a sinking feeling that it's pest worms. The last fish moved out of this tank last Saturday, so can hatched worms survive in the substrate that long? Haven't seen signs of worms in these fish, and the tank and fish were wormed maybe a year ago. Will do some more research, but would really appreciate any thoughts and help! I can worm the remaining two tanks if needed.

Tweezers and clothes peg added for scale:

 

[Naughts]

Could be tubifex?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Could be tubifex?

Man, I hope so! I haven't fed live tubifex though, I don't think. If I have (I fed some live foods I got from the store, as a treat) then it was a long time ago. The substrate in that tank was ancient though too, he's had it set up at least a decade. But I did do substrate cleaning.

 

[Back in the fold]

I agree with @Naughts looks like tubifex. If you find a matted bunch all together in the substrate that will confirm it. I think they come in as eggs in fish food. They're harmless and Kuhlii Loaches would be in Kuhlii Loach Heaven if they found them.

 

[connorlindeman]

Detritus worms. Harmless i think

EDIT: I should say that i think that its detritus not sure thought

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Detritus worms. Harmless i think

Can they be red? I've only ever seen them white/clearish, and haven't found any that are white or clear, only the red ones

 

[connorlindeman]

Can they be red? I've only ever seen them white/clearish, and haven't found any that are white or clear, only the red ones

 

[connorlindeman]

These look very similar dont they?

 

[connorlindeman]

 

[connorlindeman]

From this website: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-13-2-detritus-worms/
"Note there are tens of thousands of species of annelid freshwater “detritus worms” so there can be some very unusual species. They range from 0.25 inch (one mm) to two inch (50 mm) long. They can be white, brown, black or red."

 

[Back in the fold]

Detritus worms can be a catch all term for things that may be Tubifex. This will take a trained eye. Tubifex get their color from whatever they eat so color isn't a reliable indicator. Just like dogs get worm eggs in them when they eat grass , fish ingest eggs from things they eat and then excrete them. I have cyclops in a couple of my tanks and have no idea where they came from but I figure that an aquarium that has healthy squatters is a healthy tank.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

View attachment 161550

Ooohhh, THAT looks more like them! I sincerely hope that that's all it is! I've seen detritus worms in one of my tanks once, but it was the clearer, more white-ish ones like in the first pic climbing the glass, not scattered reddish ones.

I panicked a bit when finding these, since I've battled camallanus worms before, I really, really don't want to have to go through something like that again!

 

[connorlindeman]

Ooohhh, THAT looks more like them! I sincerely hope that that's all it is! I've seen detritus worms in one of my tanks once, but it was the clearer, more white-ish ones like in the first pic climbing the glass, not scattered reddish ones.

I panicked a bit when finding these, since I've battled camallanus worms before, I really, really don't want to have to go through something like that again!

Yeah I hope its just detritus.

 

[Back in the fold]

Never heard of camallanus worms . Doesn't sound good.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Detritus worms can be a catch all term for things that may be Tubifex. This will take a trained eye. Tubifex get their color from whatever they eat so color isn't a reliable indicator. Just like dogs get worm eggs in them when they eat grass , fish ingest eggs from things they eat and then excrete them. I have cyclops in a couple of my tanks and have no idea where they came from but I figure that an aquarium that has healthy squatters is a healthy tank.

Thank you guys! I still want to hear what Colin thinks too, but definitely helped calm me down!

@Back in the fold this is very true. My smaller tank that has pygmy cories, I deliberately try to encourage micro-critters in it by keeping half the tank gravel (front half is sand, bigger plants in gravel at the back) so there is mulm, and I add lots of organics like almond leaves and alder cones. It's my only tank that has seed shrimp and other tiny critters that I can spot when I do water changes. I want there to be micro-organisms, because I'm convinced that's mainly what the pygmy fry eat in between my feeding them, and how they raise themselves in the tank. But I didn't add any of those things, they just seem to appear in the tank. Some tiny critter in there that moves like a water flea, might even be daphnia. But the water is always good and I clean the substrate, I just think the almond leaves and extra mulm helps to cultivate these critters!

Camallanus worms are an internal roundworm, that have a bit of dread around their name because you need a specific med to kill them off, and they can be hard to get rid of. One of the worst I think, and can do a lot of damage to the inside of the fishes digestive tract even once you manage to kill them.