Large cichlid tank possible parasite?

[Slatts]

Silly question. I have a large cichlid tank with oscars, a blood parrot, and a green terror. I saw this floating across the tank and I was wondering if this was a worm or a parasite? I thought I saw it wiggle but it could have been from the filter current. I have a video of it but not sure how to send it so I took a picture.

 

[Ellie11]

Can you get it out and see if it is a live worm? It looks like a worm.

 

[Slatts]

I moved it around for awhile in a cup to see if it would move and it wouldn’t. I also put a lot of aquarium salt into the cup it was in to see if it would move then and it didn’t. I threw it away after that.

 

[Colin_T]

fish poop

to post a video, upload video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

 

[Slatts]

Thanks! That’s what I thought all along but I wasn’t too sure.

 

[Caesar]

Mix 1 table spoon of pure epsom salt in 500 millilitres of water (I've seen distilled water recommended, but my tapwater has a TDS of 4 and I've used it without issue. Just find a source of water with low TDS imo). Soak fish food with this dilution and it helps clear out internal parasites without harming the fish.

 

[FishHobby99]

Do you feed your cichlids any type of worms? I gave mine frozen bloodworms occasionally. They pooped them out looking pretty much as they went in the other end, only more disgusting. I used a Turkey baster to remove them multiple times a day. No more worms for my fish. Too gross!

 

[Colin_T]

Do you feed your cichlids any type of worms? I gave mine frozen bloodworms occasionally.

Bloodworms are insect larvae from the Chironomid midge. They have a hard head that does not break down easily and doesn't get digested by fish. I used to cut the head off the bloodworms and throw the heads away, then feed the body to the fish. After a while I just stopped using them.