worms in tank question

hootiefish

hootiefish

AC Members
Sep 13, 2004
19
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Raleigh, NC
My poor old Hootie passed away yesterday. He was a four-year old african mbunda cichlid. He had a great personallity and will be missed. Since we moved about 10 months ago, I've had a problem with what I believe might be planarias, they are wiggly white worms about 1/2 inch long. Would these have harmed him? From what I've read they are harmless...I did partial water changes in the tank and always saw a few of them, but today I am emptying it out and see just how many there are. The tank is full of them! Could a move to a different water system have caused so many worms? And do you think the worms killed him, or are they a by-product of overfeeding and that's what got him? I only fed him a little bit, but he was pretty big in a too-small tank. (I have a larger one and was getting ready to move him....too little too late I guess.) Anyway, just wondering if anyone knew anything about these worms, where do they come from, ect? AND, if I do set up my new larger tank and get a new fish, is it safe to use rocks from the old tank to help establish the water, or will the new tank get worms from the rocks? Thanks, sorry this is so long.
 
Sorry about hootie the mbuna :(

The worms sound like planaria; yes they are harmless, but in such high numbers they are a symptom of poor water conditions and probably very high nitrates. So its not that they are caused by/a symptom of over-feeding per se, just that overfeeding will cause the very poor water conditions.

You should give the tank a good clean now that you have the chance. Don't worry about using the decoration etc. in the new one (as you don't seem to have noticed any disease).

How big is the tank by the way ? Mbuna need to be kept in groups in large tanks.
 
It's a great time to go ahead and cycle your "bigger tank" now, the fishless route. You can use anything you want really, using some media from this smaller tank may even jump the cycle a bit. The Planaria should go away during the cycle, as you will not be feeding then if you go fishless, which is preferred. They are harmless, and an indication of overfeeding and poor water quality, as Coler says.

Welcome to the board, Hootie.... is that name because of being a fan of the band?
 
Thanks for the advice. Nope, I have not noticed any disease at all, just the worms. Do you know where they come from?? How do they just appear? I don't get it. :confused: That's good to know that I can use the decor to help out the new tank. In a couple days I'll start setting up the new one. A freind has a cherry spot baby he wants to give me, but I'll do some research first to see if that's a good fish to put in the new tank though.

I admit, his tank was way, way too small. I hate to even say (type) it, but it was only 10 gal. The new one is 20. He seemed okay in there, he was alone and has seemed pretty happy in his three years in that aquarium, until recently. (the really scary thing is that he was in a 5-gal before this! I knew nothing about these guys when I got him and some others and learned a LOT on this forum.) I know it was my fault and I feel really horrible about it. I last cleaned the tank 10 days ago, and actually it was right after that that he seemed a little "off". He was about as big as they get, about 4.5 inches long.

Thanks again for the help and the great forum and website. BTW, the name's from the fish in question, hootie, not the band. But I love the band too! :) (not sure why I named the fish hootie, I guess 'cuz he was a hoot!)
 
hmmmm...just noticing that he went off right after you cleaned the tank. what would your tank regime have been up to then (frequency water change and gravel vac?).

where planaria come from ? I'm not sure whether they are always present in the organic material or the water column in the tank but require certain conditions (excess nitrate) for the population to explode - certaily poor water conditions will cause a dramatic increase. Basically if you can see them there's a problem.

if he was kept in poor quality water for a period of time, the change to clean water would be quite dangerous - a sudden change from high to no nitrates can kill a fish.

if he was the only fish in the 10 the tank would still be two small as you know. any more fish would have made it very hard to keep good parameters.

for the 20, if you like cichlids, consider a pair of rams or kribs, and if you like the rift lake cichlids consider shelldwellers from lake tanaganyika - www.cichlidforum.com has loads of info on these guys. The 20 is not big enough to keep mbuna in but you can have a great tank based around a pair of cichlids with e.g some tetra/raspora/corydoras catfish...lots of good stuff !

good luck with the new tank !
 
I should also have enquired as to whether you are conditioning your water before doing water changes, and if not what water source you use ?
 
Coler- I was conditioning the water w/API Stress Coat fish and tap water conditioner, and also using Stress Zyme biological filtration booster. I have aquarium salt but got out of the habit of using it as he seemed "down" when I put it in w/my water changes, and seemed happy when I just used the Stress Coat w/out salt. I "tried" to change the water every week, but it usually ends up being more like every other week. I would take about a gallon out w/a gravel vaccum when I did this, and it had been close to 2 weeks since the last change when he died, but I purposley put it off a little this time b/c he had seemed so down since the last one. I use city water, but since we moved we are in an area where we get warnings about the high amount of some scary stuff in the water every month or so. They say we still can drink it, unless it's someone w/a bad immune system. (sorry I don't have the letter in front of me, can't remember what the chemicals are called.) It's weird how all this worm stuff started after the move, and I wonder if the water quality would have anything to do w/it? (My husband's convinced of it, he lost one of his cichlids (in a 50 gal tank) a few months back too.) But like I said, he was way too big for the tank and I've been getting lazy about changing him weekly, so I know that couldn't have helped. Thanks for the suggestions for the new tank. The shell dwellers look like fun! We'll see if I can get brave enough to do this again. :)
 
Don't let it put you off at all - the shelldwellers are fantastic little fish and well worth a shot.

You need to change more water though...at least 20 - 25 percent every week. It would also be worthwhile investing in an API liquid drop master test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and Ph. You could then test your tap water for these, and know if you need to be treating with something else (Prime is a great water conditioner which detoxifies ammonia & nitrite as well as doing everying the stress coat does). You'll also then be aware of what the parameters in the tank are.

Don't get down about hootie - it sounds like you took care of him
 
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