I Have A Worm?

[I Love my fishies]

have a live worm in my Betta's tank I have no idea were it came from it is a salmony pink colour with a red zig zag stripe down the back of it (which looks like a vein or something)

I have been feeding my Betta frozen worms and have not yet feed him a live worm so I have no idea where this guy has come from (I did put a new snail in the tank a couple of days ago but I don't think that would have been the source as its a pretty sizeable worm)..... I am pretty sure it is a worm.

will it be ok to leave it in the tank?

 

[I Love my fishies]

bump

 

[cane76]

id take it out could be parasitic?
got any pics

 

[I Love my fishies]

OK so it is either a tubifex worm or this guy: http/www.britannica.com/eb/art-4563/Proboscis-worm

I wonder how on earth it got in my tank ...... maybe one of the frozen blood worms resurrected itself


But I am not 100% on the id I couldn't find the worm today when I went to take a pic of it any ideas how to flush out a worm>

 

[poopsydrew]

When you put the snail in maybe the worm came in with a little of the bag water? My only idea, but sounds gross to me. I had planaria worms in one of my tanks recently but nothing like what you are describing.

Best of luck,

Drew

 

[Polenth]

The chances of this worm being harmful are pretty slim. A parasitic worm would be in the host, not crawling around outside. It sounds more like the sort of worm that will be rooting around in the substrate for food... I can't imagine a predator worm would survive long enough in a fishtank to get to a good size. It could be carrying a parasite, but the likelihood of that is not high.

Lots of worms might be a problem as water quality would go down. A quick rummage on the bottom of the tank should tell you if you have lots of them. If you have only got one, it should be disturbed by this anyway and you can grab it if you want to. Personally if it's a good size I'd put it in its own tank and keep it as a pet, but that's just me.

 

[I Love my fishies]

thanks guys

Should I feed it to my Betta?

 

[jourdy288]

Did your betta show any signs of aggression towards the worm? Also, how does it move? Does it crawl up the glass? How so? Does it go one end over the other, or squiggle?

 

[I Love my fishies]

Did your betta show any signs of aggression towards the worm? Also, how does it move? Does it crawl up the glass? How so? Does it go one end over the other, or squiggle?

No agression that I have seen so far

hmmm havent been able to get a real good look at it it doesn't crawl across the glass it was hiding in the plant roots and poped it head out it is not an earth worm but moved a little like an earthworm.

 

[jourdy288]

Does it have segments?

 

[I Love my fishies]

not too sure have been looking all round my tank to get a better look and can't find the worm anywhere I am guessing Suay (my betta) has eaten it

 

[kewskills]

not too sure have been looking all round my tank to get a better look and can't find the worm anywhere I am guessing Suay (my betta) has eaten it

Guess that solved your problem then lovely treat for him

 

[jourdy288]

Protein snack? Anyhow, glad nothing went wrong.
Story: once, I tried tadpoles, but they died to ammonia. I got the from a vernal pool, and I got leeches, which Then, after removing the adults, I added a male betta and he ate their offspring. Moral: never add leeches.