white worm things in my shrimp.tank

[BiNgO]

i have a new tank and im cycling it for a week right now. i have a external canister with stable BB on it and i have use purified water. i put some powdered fish food for hasten the cycling and now i can see some white worms coming out from my substrate. still im on the process of cycling no shrimps yet but how come these worms came out from my substrates. i have fondo vivo bottom layer and jet black gravel upper layer. pls help me confirm if its benificial or it will affect the shrimps health. thanks.

[FishFan85]

I have these worms too in my shrimp tank. They're harmless to shrimps n shrimplets a part of the ecological balance. No planaria doesn't kill them. They usually live in the substrate n sometimes swim around in a wiggly manner. They're different from Planaria which is round n usually moves on glass, plants or substrate.
These worms disappear with time provided u do not over-feed. These worms enter the shrimp tank thru a plant, moss or water from another tank.

The worms you describe are most likely Rhabdocoela, I have them to, they live in the substrate and come out when for example you feed protein rich foods.

There is a BIG difference the several worms described in this thread, it think it is important to keep it clear:

Lillith, for example has worms in her tank of a parasitic nature, Scutariella those are not harmfull but attach itself to the shrimp to live in some sort of Symbiosis

Planaria, can be harmfull to shrimp as they produce a toxin that works as a defense mechanism, and works at short distances to ward off all things moving, our shrimp have an organ which protects them from toxins but when this organ is filled to capacity, the toxins nevertheless will go down in the body of the shrimp, and it may die.

Rhabdocoela, are not harmfull and are sometimes eaten by fish, I have personally seen that.

What is the difference?
Planaria:


Rhabdocoela

(©http://www.crustahunter.com)

Scutariella

(©http://www.crustahunter.com)

Planaria can be seen with distinctive arrow heads crawling on the glass.
Rhabdocoela crawl in a snale-like manner on the glass and do not posess distinctive arrow heads
Scutariella are mostly found on the shrimp itself.

If you can determine what worm it is, you'll be a whole lot closer to your answer.

Planaria can be dealt with, with medication, just like Scutariella, Rhabdocoela however are immune to flubenol, and it is very difficult to almost impossible to get rid of them completely.
Rhabdocoela can go down in numbers with decreasing the amount of food you provide or adding some small fish like Hyphessobrycon Amandae, that will eat them.

Goodluck,

Take care,

Joey

[BiNgO]

thanks for a more detailed information.

[SchorpioenW]

Rhabdocoela are harmless for shrimps and shrimplets, but they will feed on small snails.

[blahdeblah]

I have a problem too with strange worms in my tank, they attach to the middle of the shrimps head but I have not lost any, I really don't know whether to just leave well alone or try to treat but hope I don't make matters worse, my shrimps are breeding well in that tank too.
Julia

Eeek, they sound like those things out of Alien!!?? Best keep the lid of the tank closed!!

[lillith112]

LOL, mine are definately those Scutariella, I treated my tank today with Tramazol so fingers crossed the aliens go away !.

[NaturallyCurious]

I keep a Corydoras pygmaeus in each shrimp tank, my shrimp tanks are nano. Really cute little fish. Ideally I would have 3 in each tank so they could be a little group, but they are lovely little fish, and keep food waste hoovered up while being 110% shrimplet safe.

Baby guppies work well too.

And everything Joey said, yes juvenile ember tetra is a perfect little hunter, and so tiny and sparkly

The ideal way to combat substrate/environment type worms is to lessen their food supply and their population will naturally collapse. Feed the tank less, it will work and EASY + NO CHEMICALS - and so much less nerve-wracking!

[Cento]

If its the free swimming thread like white worms, I had this problem and had a thread on it a month or 2 ago...

Micro fish... Either celestial pearl danios or chili rasboras (boraras briggitae??). That'll take care of them...

There is a slight chance that they may occasionally snack on shrimpets, but unless you're running a breeding operation, it shouldn't be a huge deal.

In order for it to work, don't feed the small school of 6-8 fish until they start eating the worms. Once you see them snacking on them and the infestation subsides, start feeding the fish.


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I have used a fenbendazol based canine dewormer on my worm population but now I have found a product called Genchem No Planaria it takes 3 doses over 72hrs but the results are almost instant