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Re: Small worm appearance
Dennis:
You have Planaria, I'm quite certain. They are really not too harmful -- a
scavenger of sorts that thrive on over-feeding and other deterioration of
organics. Blue Gouramis have been known to eat them, but it might be
quicker and better to get rid of them with "Clout" or "Fluke-Tabs" as
neither of these will hurt your plants or your biological system. Cut down
on the amount that you feed and see if that doesn't do the job (along with
the treatment). Planaria also eat fish eggs which your Danios could be
supplying also. I don't think that the death of your snails and Betta had
anything to do with the Planaria -- except increase the amount of these
"small worms" in your aquarium.
Good luck,
Merrill
Aquatic Gardeners Association
<snip>
You wrote:
My problem is a sudden appearance of small worms, probably nematodes. They
are about 3 to 5 mm in length with a white color. They float through the
water column wiggling around. At any one time there seems to be around 20
in the water column. They are numerous on the substrate. Looking at the
glass, it appears they are more numerous (hundreds) near the top of the
substrate. Most appear alive and active as the squirm through the gravel.
They must not be too tasty since the Dannies spit them out (and they eat
anything). Today is the first I have seen the worms.
Strange things recently: 2 different sets of 2 snails introduced into the
tank died within a day or so. The snails came from my 40 long established
for over one year now. My Betta died Saturday.