Tank filled to the brim with tiny white worms.

[W.R]

Heya all, I recently left my 3 tanks in the care of a friend for two days and today got a stressed out call before returning home, everything is ok with my stocked tanks (thank goodness) but my lil nano I had just finished cycling is filled top to bottom with mini worms, I'm not sure what exact type, I've seen them before by the 1-3 but this is insanity, previously I would just gravel vac a bit more and do an extra water change, hold back food just a bit and fish out any leftovers but, there's no food in here even.

The worms do not look like planaria, the heads are round not triangular and they are not that sortof, fatty shape, but they are also not very long, anyone able to ID these?

20L/5gal setup for a month, airstone and sponge filter, heavily planted (no stock, the shrimp that would enter the tank arrived and are currently in another tank)
PH 6.3
0 Ammonia nitrites
nitrates are at 2-3 ppm
4 dGH

So I've added flubenol three days ago, and nothing has happened yet, it is my first time using this, should I wait longer? I'm prepared for a massive water condition swing once these worms do die off, but is the flubenol gonna cut it? basically any advice on this would be great, I've never had a tank crash this hard, no fish in it now, so if this is the wrong thread do let me know, wouldn't know where else to put it and looking at it.. it kind of IS an emergency.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Detritus worms maybe? They have round heads.

Hopefully these will help:https://www.thesprucepets.com/what-are-these-tiny-white-worms-1378753

How to Get Rid Of Detritus Worms In Aquariums? - Aquarium Sphere

Does your tank have uninvited detritus worms?

aquariumsphere.com

Worms In Fish Tank Guide: Identification & Removal

Read this guide to learn how to identify and remove Detritus Worms, Planaria, Anchor Worms, and Camallanus Worms.

modestfish.com

 

[mbsqw1d]

Yeh look to be detritus rather than planaria. What substrate have you got? Is the wood hardscape new? Are they almond leaves?

 

[W.R]

Yeh look to be detritus rather than planaria. What substrate have you got? Is the wood hardscape new? Are they almond leaves?

Ah shoot, maybe some H2o2 will help get this back on track then..
The wood has been in here for as long as the tank has been running, about a month, it was boiled beforehand. Substrate is a black quarts gravel, gravel sand and a little bit of dennerle scrapers soil. There is one cattapa almond leaf in here, which I'm planning to remove with some plants by morning to make sure there is nothing rotting in here somehow.

 

[threecharacters]

The worms are harmless and will go away once the tank is stocked (I think the fish eat the worms?). It's really not worth medicating to get rid of them IMO.

 

[James7]

They are looking for food, you’ve had a bloom of them for some reason (have you put food in to cycle?) and now they are out and about. You could try and bait a trap, leave it in there for a couple of days and then take it out and freeze them. They are harmless but rarely will you find fish who eat them. Almost every tank will have them, they usually just go about their business hidden in the substrate feasting on all the food and fish waste that settles on the bottom. If you want to get drastic about them you can use dog dewormer, panacur-c but it will also kill any snails and might cause an ammonia spike when all the adults die. I think the eggs will survive it though.

 

[W.R]

The worms are harmless and will go away once the tank is stocked (I think the fish eat the worms?). It's really not worth medicating to get rid of them IMO.

I used ammonia, there's no food in here, the fish should not eat plague worms it can mess up their bowel track severely with this amount. Mostly I'd like to decline their population somewhat so that when they die off once the tank is stocked I don't get a massive ammonia spike, there are, so many.

 

[threecharacters]

I used ammonia, there's no food in here, the fish should not eat plague worms it can mess up their bowel track severely with this amount. Mostly I'd like to decline their population somewhat so that when they die off once the tank is stocked I don't get a massive ammonia spike, there are, so many.

I just don't think it's a problem. I had a tank set up to be a blackwater biotope, filled loads of wood I collected locally, a bunch of leaves, and other botanicals from Tannin Aquatics, and I had an unbelievable amount of detritus worms like this. Covering the glass and everything. I never did anything about it and once the tank was stocked the worms disappeared pretty quickly, presumably into the substrate.

If you do nothing and just stocked the tank like normal, most likely nothing will come of the worms, and they'd eventually go away especially once the wood is done cycling. On the other hand, if you medicate the tank heavily you could end up with a tank out of wack. Hydrogen peroxide can hurt your cycle. I'm not that familiar with de-wormers, but it sounds like they can effect shrimp some (especially panacur). Further, as others have mentioned, a mass die-off of worms could cause an ammonia spike. I even found a source that suggests not treating detritus worms.

You suggested that the tank has "crashed", but it hasn't yet. The detritus worms are likely just a normal consequence of the wood and leaf litter. Nothing is actually wrong with the tank yet, it's just kinda gross looking. If you medicate and use Hydrogen Peroxide actually do run the risk of crashing your cycle.

 

[W.R]

I just don't think it's a problem. I had a tank set up to be a blackwater biotope, filled loads of wood I collected locally, a bunch of leaves, and other botanicals from Tannin Aquatics, and I had an unbelievable amount of detritus worms like this. Covering the glass and everything. I never did anything about it and once the tank was stocked the worms disappeared pretty quickly, presumably into the substrate.

If you do nothing and just stocked the tank like normal, most likely nothing will come of the worms, and they'd eventually go away especially once the wood is done cycling. On the other hand, if you medicate the tank heavily you could end up with a tank out of wack. Hydrogen peroxide can hurt your cycle. I'm not that familiar with de-wormers, but it sounds like they can effect shrimp some (especially panacur). Further, as others have mentioned, a mass die-off of worms could cause an ammonia spike. I even found a source that suggests not treating detritus worms.

You suggested that the tank has "crashed", but it hasn't yet. The detritus worms are likely just a normal consequence of the wood and leaf litter. Nothing is actually wrong with the tank yet, it's just kinda gross looking. If you medicate and use Hydrogen Peroxide actually do run the risk of crashing your cycle.

You make some very good points I ended up adding a bit of Hydrogen peroxide to make a dent and then proceeded with the cycling process, just dosing an extra ammonia dose to see if it would still be taken care of by the BB and it was just fine, the leftover worms I'll leave in there, I just wanted to make sure there wouldn't be a mass ammonia spike in case the worms would die.

Flubenol does nothing to shrimp btw, it is only harmful to snails and some types of worms.

I will go ahead and stock the tank with some guppies soon, before I swap them out for killi fish.

Thanks for your help and have a nice day