worms in shrimp tank

[inthepacific]

should i be worried? i just found a load of them on the glass this morning. they're all over the place in the substrate and stuff. i was thinking of breaking it down anyways because right now its a dirt capped with gravel and i wanted to possibly do a ada soil or some sand. what would you do.

[ravensgate]

Depends on what kind of worms. Planaria? Yes. They are easy to spot with a triangular head. A worm commonly confused with planaria but is harmless is Rhabdocoela. Plus what works on planaria won't work on rhabdocoela anyway. Other white worms would be nematodes and detritus worms. WIthout a photo there's really no way we can help you figure out what worms they are. If you were going to break it down anyway, just break it down. Here's more info on planaria vs rhabdaceola

http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/show...imp-tank/page2


And by the way, they generally show up from overfeeding...that goes for any worm. They can hitchhike in on plants and snails too but if you've done nothing new in the tank you are probably overfeeding.

[inthepacific]

thanks im kind of worried. im not sure exactly what kind they are right now because they're still kind of small. but at first i thought they were little scratches on my glass if that helps. they could be detritus worms. if i break it down and get soil what should i do with the shrimp in the mean time?

[ravensgate]

Are you going to break down the tank regardless? If so just put your shrimp in a bucket with some tank water until the tank is ready for them to go back in. If you're on the fence about breaking it down the first thing you need to do is find out what kind of worms they are. There is a sticky at the top of this forum, go in there and there is a thread on how to identify bugs. For what it's worth, even breaking the tank down and redoing it, you're probably going to have this problem again as fauna just happens in shrimp only tanks when there are no fish to eat them. So instead of panicking off the bat, go educate yourself on all the creepy crawlies so you can be more informed of when is the time to panic Nematodes, detritus worms, rhabdaceola are harmless. Nematodes and detritus worms actually help clean debris. So yes, find out what you have first. Again, if you just want to break the tank down go for it, but if you're only wanting to break it down because you see worms I think you need to slow down first and figure out what they are. I know I wouldn't break down a tank because of it.

[inthepacific]

thanks. i think im just in a panic because i thought i had got rid of them but they came back with more. and i was thinking of breaking it down for a few reasons but i might reconsider now.

[Soothing Shrimp]

heh I remember when I first say Nematodes on my shrimp tank glass I became so concerned that I broke everything down and washed it with bleach!

It was only later that I understood you never see these guys in fish tanks because the fish eat'um. It's an evil you learn to live with when having a shrimp tank.

[ravensgate]

Hey, don't feel bad. THe first time I saw weird stuff in my shrimp tanks I FREAKED OUT. And kept freaking out. And broke the tank down. And THEN AFTER breaking the tank down (after having searched for information for WEEKS, no joke) I found out all they were were rhabdaceola. So now if I see an unknown critter I just try to figure out what it is. If I can't figure out what it is I watch it's behavior around shrimps and shrimplets and decide if it's worth attacking. I know the little boogers are hard to photograph but if you can get a pic in focus, even if it's not close up we might be able to help you determine what it is a little better

[inthepacific]

well i broke it down i guess i joined the club haha. but i was thinking of redoing everything anyways just because i was unhappy with the fact that i had gravel which made it hard for the plants to grow out. and also the fact that i had dirt capped with gravel was staining the water with tannis. it was actually just an accumulation of things that were making the tank look really ugly. but anyways i got a new scape going and some ada soil. waiting for the stuff to settle out and also added some glosso which was annoying to plant but i got it done. hopefully stuff wont come back. but thanks for your advice hopefully this tank looks good in the long run.

[Aqualady]

to me they look like small grains of white rice

[MABJ]

If you have plants, you'll have critters. Even if you don't, I guarantee you'll get cyclops at least.

Best to learn to live with them.

[jimmytruong87]

They are harmless to your shrimp, and you should not use any chemical to kill them ( your shrimp will die )