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white worms on glass

jth12

Seedling
Joined
14 Jul 2020
Messages
10
Location
England
hi,
in the past i have had white worms appear on the glass of my aquascapes roughly about 5/6 weeks in,
if i wipe the glass there will be more the next day , they do not look like planeria (dont have the characteristic head shape) they are small , and on one of my tanks there was some other or same type of worm floating around in the water being pushed around by the filter which where abit larger,
but again did not look like planeria, just white worms. it would start by spotting them in the substrate.
i have read they could be detritus worms. do detritus worms leave the substrate? climb the glass?

the tanks did not have fish in them.

how does someone get rid of these worms without harming the plants and mosses in the aquarium, i have read some stuff about pancur etc being used would these harm the plants and mosses etc.


where do they come from?
i used used the same plant supplier both times they appeared would this be the reason ?

is it just in plants they come from or can they come on hardscape also as i have some hardscape from the same supplier i want to use if so i will throw the hardscape out ,

if its just the plants then i will make sure to only plant with 1-2 grow plants.



thank you
 
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Detritus worms definitely climb on glass every now and then. They're totally harmless. Mine have survived a Panacur dose strong enough for hydra. As you've guessed, they probably came in on a plant or something like that. I wouldn't worry about them at all.
 
They say worms usually appear due to over feeding, but if you have no fish in there ...??

We recently used Panacur ( 1g sachet on ebay) due to Planaria, and all the plants seemed to survive ok as did the Tetras, but we lost 2 dwary corys ! the day after 2nd dose , as suggested by this site.
https://fishlab.com/planaria/

Worth taking out some water and worms and moss into a clear container and dosing with Panacur to see what strength you really need to use before dosing your tanks.
 
they are quite unsightly, i don't mind them in the substrate i believe they are called nematodes, but when they all climb the glass and float around in the water its a problem, they ruin the look of the aquascape
but the thing is the tanks don't have any fish so I'm not feeding anything , yet they swarm the place and take over, why???
is it the driftwood fungus/mold? do they feed on that?
I'm water changing etc the tanks are not dirty substrate is vacuumed regularly?
they do tend to appear during the "diatom stage"
they have appeared in 2 of my aquariums that i set up a year apart.
it makes me worried to set up another aqaurium incase they appear again

maybe fish would help keep the number downs.
im not really a fish guy more about the plants , so can anyone suggest a small fish species that would really aggressively! eat these guys.
 
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My experience is that they have appeared, bloomed and then over time have reduced to the point I hardly see them at all. I believe that once your tank grows in and becomes mature and stable it finds the balance. Regular maintenance fitting your aquascapes demand should see the numbers tail off. Healthy part of a balanced eco.

I have fish, Snails and Shrimp in mine and I make sure they only get what they can eat during a sitting. they probably eat the wee beasts when they can which helps control number's. unavoidable in a planted tank I imagine.

Dead plant matter is another contribution to their numbers increasing so again with relatively new setups you will get natural die off and more matter for bugs to feed on.
 
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