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Worms!!!
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:53 pm
by samosette
I have worms in my 20 gallon shrimp tank. Theres some SAE, and Octos, and 2 guppies. They look like slugy types of worms that crawls on the wood and gravel, not my fish or shrimps that i can see. I'm wonderin if these worms will harm my shrimps (or fish, but I'm more concerned for my shrimps) Also, how do i get rid of them without hurting my shrimps and plants? (I have cherries, amano,red nose, and green/blue algae shrimps.)
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:38 pm
by Mustafa
Those sound like nematodes. They are harmless.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:14 pm
by blenny
Could it be planarian? Does it has look like leech?
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:53 am
by beckypyyeung
On two occasions I saw one or two thin white worms swimming in my tank. But my tetra ate them as soon as they saw them and then nothing bad happened.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:41 am
by kross
scarlet badis' favourite food.....
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:27 pm
by Mustafa
blenny wrote:Could it be planarian? Does it has look like leech?
From her description I think you are right. They sound like they are planaria. Either way both nematodes and planaria are totally harmless. I've had both in my tanks before.
Mustafa
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:13 pm
by theshrimp_123
I hate these things. Are theyre shrimp that eat them?
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:56 pm
by Mustafa
theshrimp_123 wrote:I hate these things. Are theyre shrimp that eat them?
Most Palaemonid shrimp, such as P. paludosus and Macrobrachium cf. assamense/dayanum (red claw shrimp) will decimate all of them from your tank.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:33 pm
by theshrimp_123
Most Palaemonid shrimp, such as P. paludosus and Macrobrachium cf. assamense/dayanum (red claw shrimp) will decimate all of them from your tank.
Thats weird. My ghosts didnt touch them. Then again, i kept them well fed. Should i stop feeding for awhile?
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:50 pm
by Mustafa
NO...just keep your shrimp well-fed. Don't starve them to see if they will eat the planaria. The red claw eat them for sure, though. Mine decimated all of my planaria from one of my tanks although I really did not mind the planaria.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:13 pm
by 51Cornell
We have planaria in lots of our shrimp tanks and leeches (they move differently from planaria) and what look like blackworms or tubifex worms--all spontaneously generated as far as I'm concerned since we didn't put any of those things in there). The planaria are kind of cute with their arrow heads and turn green when they get into the spirulina. Someone said you can feed them to your fish but I"m too lazy to try to pick planaria out of the shrimp tanks just to feed the fish.
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:47 am
by chlorophyll
While not recommending starvation, I feel that lots of people overfeed their shrimp. Many types of small shrimp are eating things that we don't even see and may not need a lot of direct feeding, particularly in a well established well-planted environment, especially with any accomanying fish that are already being fed.
An overfed and nutrient rich environment may contribute to worm outbreaks.