Worm thing

[JuiceBox52]

Never had fish in this tank.

Brand new driftwood.
Brand new sand

I goto look in it to think of aquascaping ideas and I see I leech looking worm on my wood. What is it? How did it get there? Should I remove it? Help!

 

[JuiceBox52]

Its weird and wiggly but I cant get a video

 

[Colin_T]

I can't tell from the picture, but the 3 main creepy crawlies like that are detritus worms, planaria and leeches.

Detritus worms look like an I and crawl about in the substrate. They only come out of the substrate if the tank conditions go off (dirty substrate or poor water quality). They are harmless but when you see them on the glass, it is an indication something has gone bad in the tank.

Planaria are a flatworm with an arrow shaped head. They crawl around in plants and eat fish eggs and fish food. They are a parasite for fish eggs and unwanted in most tanks but generally don't cause any problems to mature fish.

Leeches are parasites that will feed on fish. They have a round suction cup shaped mouth and a long body. They move like a cartoon caterpillar with the head lifting up and moving forward, then the back end catches up and the leech looks like an upside down U before it straightens out. You can kill leeches with salt.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Did you sterilize your driftwood?
Some driftwoods may carry insects, bugs eggs and probably even parasites eggs depending on where they came from. (land or river).

It's best to sterilize any thing that need to be put into your aquarium.

Here are some information about driftwood and where they came from.

Aquarium Driftwood: Best and Safest Types for Your Tank (Setup Tips)

Everything you need to know about Aquarium Driftwood. Read more

fishtankadvisor.com

 

[JuiceBox52]

I did sterilize it, super well. I baked it at a high temperature for 3 hours and poured boiling water over it

 

[JuiceBox52]

@Colin_T I looked up pictures and it dosent really look like any of those. I'll try to get a better picture, if I can find it. It's a lone less than half inch worm in a 4 foot tank so I might not be able to

 

[JuiceBox52]

Its pale brown, beige sort of color. It has a black tipped head. It made a sort of tube out of the settled dust from the sand I added. Any ideas?

 

[Bub]

Sounds like it could be a caddisfly larvae. The black head and beige body combined with creating a tube sounds like its one of them. Generally they are harmless, though a few species are predatory. As it is making a case (if I've ID'ed correctly), I'd wager this is a detritus eater and not one of the predatory species.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Sounds like it could be a caddisfly larvae. The black head and beige body combined with creating a tube sounds like its one of them. Generally they are harmless, though a few species are predatory. As it is making a case (if I've ID'ed correctly), I'd wager this is a detritus eater and not one of the predatory species.

Thanks! I've looked that up and I cant tell if that's it but it might be!

 

[Bub]

Thanks! I've looked that up and I cant tell if that's it but it might be!

Do you have any pictures that show it better? The picture above isn't too clear.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Do you have any pictures that show it better? The picture above isn't too clear.

Not really, my camera sucks but I'll try. It's in its little tube thing right now

 

[JuiceBox52]

Do you have any pictures that show it better? The picture above isn't too clear.

Heres the best I can get. I drew a line of where the tube ends and the worm starts

 

[Bub]

I do feel that that is a caddisly larvae then. Does it have little legs at the front of its body?

 

[JuiceBox52]

I do feel that that is a caddisly larvae then. Does it have little legs at the front of its body?

Maybe...its really really small so hard to tell. It's less tthan half an inch long I'd say and really skinny

 

[JuiceBox52]

Actually it looks to me like a midge fly larvae. One of the brown ones, not the red ones. I'm almost certain that's what it is, but could anyone confirm?