I turned my filter off for some maintenance, and notice some worms squiggling around, along with worms that look like fuzz gathered around the front of the glass. How to treat? I just had a fresh clutch of snail hatch, and I am worried about causing harm to the young snails.
Not sure about the fuzz, but the worms in this video look to me like detritus worms. Not parasitic, they just do what their name implies: eat detritus. They live in the substrate and you don’t usually see them. They typically only go up the water column when there’s a lack of oxygen in the water, so that’s something to watch out for.
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Nematodes
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What kind of filter do you have? They live in the substrate and in the filter so if you disturb either (including turning off the filter) you’ll get a few in the water column. If you overfeed or have a lot of debris you’ll have more. They’re harmless though, just some type of annelid detritus worm.
You can’t really get rid of them completely. If they bother you, you can reduce your feeding and keep a clean tank with regular substrate vacuuming to dramatically reduce their numbers.
I’m not sure about the fuzzy worms? Do they glide along the glass? They could be planaria or rhabdocoela. Planaria could try to predate the baby snails, but rhabdocoela are harmless. Planaria will have distinct triangular heads and you can sometimes see eyespots.
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Not sure about the fuzz, but the worms in this video look to me like detritus worms. Not parasitic, they just do what their name implies: eat detritus. They live in the substrate and you don’t usually see them. They typically only go up the water column when there’s a lack of oxygen in the water, so that’s something to watch out for.
Nematodes
What kind of filter do you have? They live in the substrate and in the filter so if you disturb either (including turning off the filter) you’ll get a few in the water column. If you overfeed or have a lot of debris you’ll have more. They’re harmless though, just some type of annelid detritus worm.
You can’t really get rid of them completely. If they bother you, you can reduce your feeding and keep a clean tank with regular substrate vacuuming to dramatically reduce their numbers.
I’m not sure about the fuzzy worms? Do they glide along the glass? They could be planaria or rhabdocoela. Planaria could try to predate the baby snails, but rhabdocoela are harmless. Planaria will have distinct triangular heads and you can sometimes see eyespots.