WORMS!!! Help!

[Vam]

Well my recently cycled tank (cycled for two weeks now) has been delt another blow, a wormy infestation of a couple 1000 white, hair like worms. They are stuck on the glass, gravel, floating in the water and even stuck all over the heater. I'm very shocked to find these 'worms' in my tank and I have no idea how to get rid of them. After doing some research I'm guessing they might be planaria and I hope to god they are not parastic. The worms seem to multiply a few 1000 each day and I water changes don't seem to be doing the trick. I need some definitive answers in getting rid of these things.


Some tank specs:
-Feeding habits: once every other day
-Tank Occupants: 2 whiteskirt tetras, 1 male betta, 2 african dwarf frogs
-Recently we had a snail death, I suspect shortly after the tank cycled.
-Ammonia: 0ppm
-Nitrite: 0ppm
-pH: 6.5
-Temp 75F

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I have the same problem in my endlers tank. I have a billion of them that hitched a ride on some hornwort. They don't do any harm to the fish,when I stir up the gravel the endlers go mad mad crazy munching them up so I just let them have their fun.

 

[crimsontsavo]

Don't get rid of them. If they are safe that is. They make excellent fish food! I encourage them in my tank. Adds more life to a tank too, and is good for fry.

 

[DrOizo]

Thsi comes up all the time (a pinned note perhaps) The worms are little worms caused by overfeeding. they are harmless to the tank and as said make great food for cories Try feeding your fish less, cleaning up un eaten food and getting a pair or 3 cories
they are called something beggining with E but I can't remember it something like en.... oh well I'll edit when I remember

 

[Cian McLiam]

They are called planarians, they are moslty harmless and will appear if there is a lot of leftover food or dead fish in the tank. I wouldnt worry too much, but they are here to tell you too get moving on the tanl maitenance, check all fish are alive and clean the gravel (including under and around the ornaments).
How much gravel do you have? anything over 3/4" can make ideal conditions for waste build up and trouble down the line, unless you are very careful about cleaning.

Ken

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I'm sure I have them from my ten gallon being totally overstocked with baby endlers. I took everything out of the tank last week and did a thorough vaccum and there were tons of them and the fish went ape. They ate so many I didn't feed them for 2 days. I kind of like them,free fish snacks!

 

[Billsjunkie]

I had them when I was feeding my fish twice a day. I cut down to only once a day and only enough food for each fish to get a flake. Get a algae scrapper if it bothers you. Thats what I did to get rid of them. Before I had my cories anyway. Such cool little buggers.

 

[Vam]

I picked up 2 cories last night and wow what a difference a night makes. I can really see the difference in the amount of worms in my tank in just one night. The cories seem to be settling in nicely and my tetras/betta don't seem aggressive towards them at all.

Where do the worms come from? This question has been baffeling me.

 

[DrOizo]

Amazingly these worms can be airborne. Crazy huh but the eggs are so small that they can be blown around by the wind and in to your tank! I'm glad you got some cories They're great aren't they and they love to eat