those little white worms - source of infection??

[aquariaddictus]

You know those little white worms that 'appear' in tanks and hang on the glass just above the water's surface?? In a normal tank, you wash them down and the fish eat them. In a big cat tank, they continue to thrive because anything you put in there to eat them would be food for the cats.

I wonder if there's any way these worms could infect the fish? I have an RTC with a problem - looks like swim bladder. She's 'standing', head up, in the corner - three days now. I'm trying salt, warming the tank, trying to avoid quarantine for the reason someone else just asked. She's much closer to her 780 g home, so she needs to hang on for me; I know she's cramped but she can lay and cruise, she just doesn't.
Any ideas?
tia judy
posting in catfish too

[FishBait]

I highly doubt the worms are responsible for the problem w/your cat. I'm not ruling out that your problem may be related to parasites, just not the lil' buggers zipping around in the tank ;)

Are there any tankmates w/the cat?

[aquariaddictus]

A marble cat, and he's fine. I'm stumped.

[wetmanNY]

The worms are probably Naids or their cousins the Aeolosomatids. Not parasites. Not vectors of disease. Snacks.

[aquariaddictus]

Not for 20" cats. They're senses are acute, but............ Unless they just happen to take them in through the gills:)

I'm off to try to 'pea' treatment, in case she's impacted. How to make peas taste like blood. Mad chemist wanders to kitchen.
tanks
j

[FishBait]

Actually red-tails feed on nuts/berries in the wild (like pacus) so you may not need to mask that great veggie taste!

Although I still don't eat my veggies either so maybe a dash of "essence of blood" can't hurt :D

[OrionGirl]

Try soaking them in beef/chicken broth. You'll want to get the low/no sodium kind, but it should work. That, or try adding Epsom salts (no idea on the amount--I know you use a tsp/gallon for normal, scaled fish).

[aquariaddictus]

I've added epsom salt and sodium choride (started last night), so I've got Mg, SO4, Na and Cl covered. I dropped another heater in, and I'm up to 76F from 74F. She huddled near the second heater, which is a higher wattage than the first. I also warmed the room up (the dining room has a bay window that hangs out over nothing, so it's a hard room to keep warm) to expedite the tank warm up. I was just about to report that she has been down flat and normal for more than an hour, but now she's back to semi-standing. She's swaying tho, something she wasn't doing before. I think we're getting somewhere.

The peas didn't work, even microwaved in chicken blood. I don't think she needs to eat anyway - she accidentally got a double feeding on Tuesday.

crossed fingers
judy