I'm just about done with a fishless cycle on a new tank and then all of a sudden all these worms started hatching. The only things in the tank are a piece of that expensive Malaysian driftwood you see in petshops (which I boiled before putting in tank) and gravel (which I previously cleaned in hot water). I double dosed the tank with Copper Safe but that didn't seem to slow them down any (they cont'd hatching). Now I've been double dosing every other day with Jungle Parasite Clear but they're still around. At any one time there's about 3-6 of them either alive or dead circulating around the tank. I've also noticed that the ~1cm worms are most likely parasitic since I've seen them attach by their heads to the driftwood. Of course, I don't want to add fish to the tank, but I also don't want to start again from scratch. I've been thinking of removing the biowheel and storing it in another tank in order to keep the bacteria alive, and then REALLY overdosing the tank. Does anyone have any suggestions?
How do I get rid of these worms?
- Thread starter waltb2000
- Start date
you may not want to put that biowheel into another tank cross contaminate the other tank with the parasite. what do these worms look like, is anything from another tank or from the outdoors. What is the temperature you have the tank set to etc. If you get this to us we may be able to help more so you don't keep scratching your head and using meds wondering why it won't die.
If you see worms in the tank, and if you have no fish in the tank, why is it that you feel that they are parasitic?
They are not. Parasites require hosts. You have no hosts (fish), therefore they are not parasites.
They are not. Parasites require hosts. You have no hosts (fish), therefore they are not parasites.
The worms look like nematodes (roundworms), are anywhere from 3-15 mm long,are pink in color, have an eel-like swimming motion, and have appendages on their anterior end that are capable of attaching to some type of substrate. I think they are parasitic since they have mouthparts that are capable of attaching themselves to something (why else would they have mouthparts like this?), and also because many nematodes are parasites. They are definitely not annelids as far as I can tell since they are not segmented, nor do they appear to be flatworms (platyhelminthes). The tank has been kept at room temp, but since it's warmed up the last couple of days, the hatching rate has definitely sped up. Maybe I should put a heater in the tank to really speed things up while continuing to medicate? Since there are dead free-swimming stage worms in the tank I'm assuming that the meds are working, but just not on the eggs (or on an as of yet non-detected lifestage). What do y'all think? Thanks for responding.
I'm still confused as to where they showed up from in the first place. Just curious, but do you have well water? I'm wondering if you could use a method such as hot salt water to get rid of them. That is bump up the aquarium temperature to 85f or higher since you don't have fish yet and add aquarium salt. Once they are all dead I'd give it two more weeks before trying to get an aquarium going just to make sure all eggs are gone. Now if these are getting into your aquarium from your water supply you will need to sort that out before you keep fish I would think.
Sorry, forgot to mention that I added a potted plant to the tank (fresh from the LFS) when I first started cycling. I got rid of it as soon as the worms showed up. So the possible sources of the worms in order of liklihood (IMHO) are: the potted plant, the driftwood, the gravel. I'm not on well water. I think your salt water idea might work. I'll try it.
If they are parasites and there are no hosts in the tank they should starve to death. I'd up the heat so they hatch and wait until they die. At least that way you won't screw up your biological filter with meds.
are they tubifex worms growing? I know someone else on here had them start growing in his tank. forget who
I have not seen appendages on tubifix worms, I would agree there is no food they should not be parasitic based upon this also a given amount of meds takes time to work. Salt works wonders on most smaller animals that are fresh water based. I would agree that should work and not kill the biological filter
