odd little worms

[daveedka]

Found an interesting swimmer in my tank today (rather 4 or 5 of them) At a guess I'd say they are tubifex worms, they are about the size of frozen blood worms, but close to white and very thin. most were about an inch long. I have not seen these in the big tank before, and only ever saw one in the guppy tank which was eaten before I could get a good look at it. The only live worms I have fed were some bloodworms a couple of months ago, so they had to hitchhike in with the plants ? Is it common for tubifex to live and reproduce in a tank? Since it is an RFUG and it is planted, the substrate is pretty rich and oxygenated both. My firmouth seems to stay fat and the pictus cats seem to be well fed despite the fact that they seldom come out to feed. Do I have a free food issue or a problem?
dave

 

[RTR]

Nematodes and planaria are the two commnest worm types seen casually in tanks. On occasion the odd free-living leech is seen. All come in as contaminants with plants or whatever. Nematodes are commonly seen free-swimming with their characteristic sine-wave motion, they tend to be quite thin and hair-like. Planaria are flatter, their characteristic head shape is visible if they are large enough, and they are most often gliding along the substrate or the glass but can swim free if the current is not significant. Both types tend to congregate near the water line, as they graze on the surface/menisus biofilm. Both of those types if seen in quantity (threads titled: Help, my tank has parasites/worms/creepy-crawlies!!!!!) tend to be a symptom of excess organics in the tank, especially in the substrate- they are mainly biofilm/organic grazers.

A chance sighting of an individual is meaningless and within full normal conditions - part of the fauna that makes up our micro-ecologies.

 

[daveedka]

AHH!! your description of nemotodes sounds really accurate especially the swimming method. I saw 4 or 5 yesterday while cleaning the glass and disrupting things quite well. haven't seen any since but will be doing some more work later today and will keep my eyes open for them. I can't imagine that there are enough to sustain a firemouth and two pictus cats, but there is a lot that goes on in this big tank with the snails, plants, and evidently extra fauna as well. I love the big tank systems, they tend to have more space for small complexities, which I find quite interesting. BTW the snail colony under the plates is still doing well beleive it or not.
Dave