Worm Identification?

[jesster2]

Hi everybody. I was hoping somebody might be able to help me identify some worms I saw in my tank! They are white and range in size form 1/4"-1". They are like eyelash or hair thick. They undulate like a snake swimming in the water.The one time I saw them they were by suction cups I use for air stone. The other day I found some under my glass tank top. Do I need to worry that these are parasitic? Thanks everybody!!

Jesse

[Corrie]

Jesse, they are planaria.
Eating the left over food.

[thomasn]

probably grindal worms, if they are, then not parasitic

[Ichthius]

Most likely a dero worm or other aquatic oligochaete. Don't worry about them but they are an indicator of a nutrient rich environment. Vacuum your substrate and do large water changes.

[jesster2]

Thanks so much everyone!! I went ahead and called up some pics of the different worms online and the winner is a grindal worm. Although from the different pics it looks like they are in soil and not an aquatic tank. I wonder how they were introduced into my tank though?? Does this mean my tank is still nutrient rich? Thanks everybody.

[Corrie]

Grindal are terrestrial, do not swim, and related to common earth worms. They will drown in water.
Jesse, you have planaria. Planaria are white and - "undulate like a snake swimming in the water"

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/

[Ichthius]

Definately not a grindal.

To rule out plamaria does it have an arrow shaped head? Is it thin as a hair? Then it's not a planaria.

It's an oligochaete or possibly a fly larva. If it's the latter you will be able to see a head or eyes.

[Corrie]

David, fly larva do not swim, or swim this way - "They undulate like a snake swimming in the water"
and planaria are this size, color, and hair thick - "They are white and range in size form 1/4"-1". They are like eyelash or hair thick."
You usually can't see the "head" on planaria.

Planaria
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/planaria.jpg

[Ichthius]

That picture is not a planaria. You can always see thead on a healthy planaria. They are not hair thin and glide on surfaces not free swim undulating.

Try this one:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Planariafull.jpg

Pull out your copy of pennak and you'll see.

[Corrie]

I just googled "planaria" and that's the picture that came up.
I think they mis-labled it.

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/planaria.jpg

We've always called them planaria. I'm going to have to slap some people around for mis-calling them now. LOL

[Ichthius]

This Is my water system fauna id bible. I have a new copy at work and a first eddition at home. The older copy covers more primitive taxa.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/187-4281764-1006064?a=0471358371

[jesster2]

Okay guys. I do not see an arrow shaped head that is why I ruled out the planaria. They look like the picture that corrie put up. I doubt it's fly larvae as I do not see any eyes. I am not sure about a nutrient rich environment. I have a bare bottom tank with potted plants. I do a 25% water change every week. If the nitratre levels even start to go up I step up the % and frequency of the changes. I feed my guys twice a day what they can finish in about 3-4 minutes. I give a homemade gel food in the a.m. and a Hikari saki food with peas in the p.m. I have a eheim and fluval cannister filter on my 75 gallon tank. Although I do have problems with the Eheim clogging up faster then the Fluval. I also have a cloralife UV sterilizer on my tank. If there is any more info I can give let me know.Thanks for all the info everybody.

Regards,
Jesse

[Corrie]

Jesse, try this link. See if it's any of these guys:

http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/03/trematodes-and-nematodes-in-fish.html

[jesster2]

Thanks. After reading the info I know they aren't parasitic worms. So would you guys try to treat and get rid of them or just let them be? That was a very useful link!!

[Ichthius]

So what do you think they are?

I wouldn't worry about them. They likely found a nutrient rich environment in your potted plants.

I found this a little humor us:
"Detritus Worms (from the group of worms called Oligochaetes, sub group naidid worms) are often misidentified in the aquarium hobby as Planaria without close inspection by many internet articles such as about.com."

Here's the library I use for id'ing bugs:
http://goldfishgarage.blogspot.com/2010/03/few-good-books-for-system-fauna-id.html
<image
a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pgZfmspcV_M/S6ebFWzzLWI/AAAAAAAAOEw/guNfn3FvF6A/s1600-h/photo-713212.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451496390279769442" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pgZfmspcV_M/S6ebFWzzLWI/AAAAAAAAOEw/guNfn3FvF6A/s320/photo-713212.jpg[image]

[Ichthius]

Stupid editing time limit. It should be set to much longer than 5 minutes.

[bigbettadan]

Live food is a good thing..........LOL

Dan

[suphi]

I have similar worms in my SVR tank, those are not parasitic/harmful. Fish do eat them although they're too small to provide any meaningful nutrients.

Definitely not planaria (which is a flat worm instead of nematode/round worm), I used to keep planaria in college during a science project so I'm very familiar with them.

[jesster2]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will just let them be. I jwas just concerned that they were parasitic. I believe they are detrius worms. THanks again!