# Help, tiny worms!



## harley (Jul 24, 2015)

Hi, I just saw 2 TINY little white worms just above the substrate on the glass in my 10 gallon planted shrimp tank, they were so small I could barely see them. They seemed to "crawl" back down the glass and disappeared into the substrate. I've been searching online & I can't find anything that looks exactly like them. I've been doing small frequent water changes to lower my KH/GH levels, so I don't think my tank is unclean & I'm running 2 sponge filters (one with Matrix in it). I added a plant a couple of weeks ago that I hadn't dipped in anything to kill off bad guys (just rinsed it off) & there were some ghost shrimp in there up until a week ago (along with the RCS, bamboo & Amano shrimp who have been in there). I don't think I have overfed & I try to keep food in their dish. I have a real phobia of worms & would like to make sure to get rid of these, what can I do?
I should also add that I've added Stability over the past few days when I put the Matrix in because I have been having high Nitrate levels (40 to 80). Ammonia & Nitrites both 0. Thanks.


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

They are most likely detritus worms, and I hate to tell you, their eggs come in your water. They are actually beneficial in the same way earthworms are good for your garden 

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## harley (Jul 24, 2015)

natemcnutty said:


> They are most likely detritus worms, and I hate to tell you, their eggs come in your water. They are actually beneficial in the same way earthworms are good for your garden
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


If it was something in my tap water I wouldn't they have shown up in the 40 gallon tank that I've had for 4+yrs?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Yep, I'm sick and tired of detritus worms and copepods in my gallon shrimp tank. Hence I'm going to 10g and adding a few nano fish. 

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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Could be flatworms. Harmless as well. Could have easily come in on a plant.


Fish are likely to eat them as soon as they see them.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

If you dump a bit of water from your filter into a glass bottle, you will have an army of them in no time.


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## harley (Jul 24, 2015)

Ok, so upon further inspection (sitting & staring at my substrate, lol): I see some microscopic dots that are at the bottom of the tank mostly around the moss balls & they seem to hop like fleas would. They are much smaller than the worms I saw. The worms were short, fat approx 2mm long, & white. They weren't swimming, they were moving like a snail would on the glass. Does any of this sound harmful? It's frustrating, I finally got the water parameters about where I want them by mixing RO water with my tap & now this. I started fussing with the water because I was losing RCS on a regular basis, but the Amanos & Bamboo Shrimp are fine. Do either of these little creatures sound like something that could harm RCS? Also, I have no fish in this tank, it's shrimp only, should I add a fish or 2 to help clean this up? It's only a 10 gallon, so what would you guys suggest? Thanks so much for the replies!


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

You should start feeding less/less often.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Worms sound like flat worms. As long as they don't "grow up" to be planaria, you are fine. (aka they stay small)


The small things hopping around could be copepods, or something else.

What is that bug in my Aquarium? .:. Various small creatures that can inhabit a Freshwater Invertebrate Aquarium


As long as you have no planaria or hydra (or seed shrimp?), you don't *need* to do anything other than maybe feeding less food and upping the water changes. If you want, you can add guppy fry for a short while... they'll eat tiny things, including potentially baby shrimp. Once the aquarium appears pretty clean, remove them. It is possible though for the fish to miss eating all the extra critters though....


Here is a picture of a flatworm
http://i.imgur.com/UKePbu3.jpg


A couple different pictures of planaria (they can range in color and shape - somewhat)
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/57106-albums10668-picture45329.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_puTVILFyI...Aik/SV1NtwxJT1Q/s320/planaria-composite-2.jpg


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

laeanee said:


> I see some microscopic dots that are at the bottom of the tank mostly around the moss balls & they seem to hop like fleas would. They are much smaller than the worms I saw. The worms were short, fat approx 2mm long, & white.


Same problems as me. They're not harmful, but unsightly. 

The recommendation is always feed less... BUT

I get copepods and worms in glass vases that have plants and have never fed anything since the vase are plant only. 

Since these bugs are inevitable... get some shrimp friendly fish that'll eat em if you don't like the look of em.


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

If you're using ECO-complete for a substrate,those are "enhanced root symbionts" ,otherwise known as detritus worms.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

There really aren't any "shrimp friendly" fish that'll eat aquarium bugs but not shrimp.... they might leave adult shrimp alone, but baby shrimp would be fair game.


I agree though, it's possible to get a population boom of "pests" without feeding.


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

laeanee said:


> If it was something in my tap water I wouldn't they have shown up in the 40 gallon tank that I've had for 4+yrs?


If it glides like a snail, @Zoidburg is right that it is most likely a flatworm (most are not bad). Hard to say if you have copepods or something else since you say it kind of jumps around while most copepods I have kind of putter around like a Jetson's car.

In your 40 gallon, unless you only use RO water, you almost certainly have detritus worms. Fish eat them quite readily, and they usually stay buried in your substrate unless there is a lack of food. They are also don't tend to leave substrate until lights are off or at their lowest.

To be completely honest, all of these are very beneficial for your aquarium. When I started out, I was mad the first time I got snails from plants. Then I saw them decimate hair algae among other things, and they grew on me a bit. Now I have copepods (seed shrimp), 3 types of snails, limpets, tiny flatworms, and tons of detritus worms. I haven't vaccuumed​ my sand in over a year, and every time I pull plants, there is hardly anything that floats into the water column as a result.

If you really have to kill it all, get No Planaria or a Planaria Zero. These will kill snails and worms but will not harm fish or shrimp. Just make sure to watch for ammonia spikes due to all the dead snails/worms. You'll also have to stir up the substrate during dosing time to get them all. Just know that the detritus worms whose eggs come in through water will most likely be back


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

I've heard that No Planaria may not harm the flatworms at all... which kind of defeats the purpose of using it in some aquariums... lol


Pretty much hit or miss!


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

*The More Worms, The More Waste*



Zoidburg said:


> I've heard that No Planaria may not harm the flatworms at all... which kind of defeats the purpose of using it in some aquariums... lol
> 
> 
> Pretty much hit or miss!


 I just kept the flatworms in my tank, they don't bother me since they art just part of the biodiversity. also the little aphid like things I also have. and tubifex worms, I got it all baby! lol, I wouldn't try to kill them necessarily just lower your food, the more worms means the more waste.


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## SERRCH (Mar 27, 2016)

BettaBettas said:


> I just kept the flatworms in my tank, they don't bother me since they art just part of the biodiversity. also the little aphid like things I also have. and tubifex worms, I got it all baby! lol, I wouldn't try to kill them necessarily just lower your food, the more worms means the more waste.





Can it be transferred to humans???


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

SERRCH said:


> Can it be transferred to humans???
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 sure just eat them
*dead serious face*
*bruh*


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## SERRCH (Mar 27, 2016)

BettaBettas said:


> sure just eat them
> *dead serious face*
> *bruh*






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## harley (Jul 24, 2015)

I was able to get some REALLY zoomed in pictures of what's in my tank. I just want to make sure it's not planaria or anything else that could be harmful. What do you guys think?

















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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Powders desk with Levamisole.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

They look like Rhabdocoela worms. They should be harmless. Back in the day forum member ravensgate posted a lot about these.

Some weeks ago I found one of these in my tank and absolutely panicked because I thought they were planaria. However flatworms are a very diverse bunch, and these are different. The planaria drugs do not affect them (I quarantine all new plants with such drugs and they still made it through). They are not as fast or predatory as planaria. 

True planaria will have the diamond-shaped head and two ocelli (eyespots). These can decimate your shrimp colony and must be eliminated via chemical means. Simply feeding less will reduce their numbers but they will still be present. I had them take me down from 75 to 15 amano shrimp in a tank that was not fed at all!


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Agreed with Axelrodi202. They are simply called "flatworms", but they do appear to be the harmless type.


Planaria will get much larger than that.


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

Axelrodi202 said:


> They look like Rhabdocoela worms. They should be harmless. Back in the day forum member ravensgate posted a lot about these.
> 
> Some weeks ago I found one of these in my tank and absolutely panicked because I thought they were planaria. However flatworms are a very diverse bunch, and these are different. The planaria drugs do not affect them (I quarantine all new plants with such drugs and they still made it through). They are not as fast or predatory as planaria.
> 
> True planaria will have the diamond-shaped head and two ocelli (eyespots). These can decimate your shrimp colony and must be eliminated via chemical means. Simply feeding less will reduce their numbers but they will still be present. I had them take me down from 75 to 15 amano shrimp in a tank that was not fed at all!


So I don't feed my tank at ALL (just dose fertilizers) since I don't have any fish that need food, only some oto cats, cherry / amano shrimp, and a couple assassin snails. Looking at my tank today, I had an EXPLOSION of these things all over my glass. They have a diamond shaped head, but I cannot discern any "eye spots". Normally they hang out on the substrate and rarely climb onto the glass.

I don't see any dead shrimp anywhere, just the occasional molting. Should I be worried?


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Could be young planaria. 



Definitely want to treat with No Planaria, Planaria Zero, Fenbendazole (fish dewormer, dog dewormer, or goat dewormer in liquid suspension) or Predator?


Increase aeration and treat the tank 3 times with whatever product you use.


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

Well I've never seen any get large. They've been in there for months now. Always seem to stay small.

I am hesitant to dose the tank because of the assassins / shrimp. Don't want to lose any of the buggers.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes, diamond-shaped head is a dead-ringer. Treat the tank for at least 2.5 weeks. Planarian eggs generally take about 2 weeks to hatch at standard aquarium temperatures. You want to make sure that any present as eggs at the start of your treatment are hatched and then killed, as the various drugs are not ovicidal.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

APynckel, can you provide photos?


Shrimp should be fine with the treatment (when followed as direct - extra air a necessity!), but you'd definitely want to remove the snails!


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

They're so small, it's difficult to get the phone to focus on them. I've got another camera charging up to take some macros. This is what I was able to snap...


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Looks like them. True planaria will move much faster than the harmless ones. You definitely need to get some treatment started. If you go with fenbendazole it is fine for pond (but not nerite) snails.


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

I don't have any snails in the tank except for the assassins. I worry about having to siphon the substrate after treatment (to get all the corpses out), my shrimp are bountiful and small.

*ninja edit* Also, these things have been in here for months, and I've seen no ill effects of them. I should be seeing them attack shrimp and whatnot, right?

Bump: One of them decided to crawl across the rear glass for me just now. Got a good pic....


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

How large are they?

Attacks are quick, so you may not even see them happening. Is your shrimp population holding steady or slowly dwindling?


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

They're small, ~7mm in length.

My shrimp population hasn't really changed. I've lost one amano shrimp since I've had them (still have 4), and the 6 cherry shrimp have bred into hundreds. New babies all the time.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Interesting. Every once in a while, I do have a tank with the larger, faster flatworms that still have breeding shrimp. I'd wager that there are quite a few planaria species that make their way into our tanks, and not all may necessarily be predatory. I'd still keep a careful eye out though.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

There are planaria traps that you could use.... however, it could take a long while to capture all of them.




The harmless rhabdocoela flatworm variety are *tiny* compared to planaria....

http://i.imgur.com/UKePbu3.jpg


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Actually seed shrimp aren't a problem, and even can be a good "canary in a coal mine" water quality indicator My 5 gallon colony tank has dozens of them they populate the outside filter and actually eat and breakdown bigger pieces of debris/algae/old food drawn into the filter.

Here's a decent video of a Rhabdocoela flatworm..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaVzI_9N66U

These things are the detritus worms that every planted tank keeper eventually ends up with, pretty harmless and many fish like eating them.


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