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Long thin creature in my shrimp tank, wiggles like an S when it swims;New development

8K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  hedge_fund 
#1 · (Edited)
So I just turned the light on for my 10g cherry shrimp tank, and I saw this long, thin .. thing[kinda reminded me of goldfish poo] wriggleing violently through the water.

What I assume was it's head was a bit thicker and a bolder "white" color then the rest of it's body, and it attached it's self to the glass for a few seconds with it, before releasing and swimming off before I got the chance to snatch up my net and scoop it out and I lost track of it.


I just want to know if it's harmful or not to my shrimp, if not then I'll let it be, as I know certain bugs are just a part of haveing a healthy [or not so much?rofl] tank, it's nature and I embrace it :].

I just want to make sure it won't harm my shrimpies, or their babies.

I briefly skimmed over http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp/40061-whats-bug-how-recognize-them.html and didn't find anything similiar to it, so I'm sorry if I missed another thread a few pages back or somthing, but I need to know asap if I need to hunt this thing down or not.


Thanks ahead of time, and have a safe and tasty holiday!
 
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#4 ·
Ahh.. Maybe an inch if it were straight?

I just scooped it out of my tank-- Or well, I think I did, I went to put it in a plastic container for pictures, but it was no where to be found in my net, perhaps it dripped out of it and onto the floor :confused1:.

I guess only time will tell if it's still in there or not.


I gave my gravel a good vac'ing before I turned the tank into a shrimp tank [was a goldfish grow-out for a baby oranda I had until a bigger tank was cleared out] so I'm pretty sure it's not from uncleanliness in my tank or somthing, but it still creeped me out.


It was about an inch in stretched in length, and swam through the water by wiggling the lower half of it's body in a constant S shape, and it's "head" [I'm assume it was a head, since it attached to the glass with it] was thick, possibly a circle shape?
 
#7 ·
I looked it over, and I didn't find anything like what's in my tank...

But when I turned my lights on this morning, oh my goodness! There's tons of them!

At least 26+ of these little thin white worm things [doesn't look the same as the first one I found, much thinner] crawling up the side of my glass, out of the water and coiling together! [are they..breeding..?] It's so disgusting.

There was also a ton of them in one spot on my gravel [black gravel].

Uhg!

I turned the light off for a few minutes just because it was creeping me out pretty bad.

I turned the light back on and some of my young rams were now on hte gravel where the white thin worm things were, and most of the worms there seem gone. So either they swam off, burried them selves, or my snails ate them.. ?

This is starting to scare me though, there are so many all of a sudden!

I guess i'll have to look into some smaller fish that I can keep with my cherries that won't kill them [although it'll dent the number of babies i'll get .. -sigh-]

But these things really bother me, even if they happen to be harmless, I don't like them =/.
 
#9 ·

Nah, they don't have little legs ..things, and they're like a milky white color, maybe 2-4 hairs thick.

I'm scowering google in an attempt to find a picture, since my camera is barely any better then a cheap cell phones =/ [this thing is like.. maybe 6+ years old?]

I think I might pick up some Neon tetra, though I feel a little bad sticking a schooler in a 10g, they are pretty small, and I havn't found any horror stories yet of neons gobbling up cherries.. Hm.
 
#10 ·
hum, hate to dig up a OLD thread.. but..

I have the same type of worms in my shrimp tank.. and the other day when I stirred the substrate (20 gal).. LOTS of them came up.

Can anybody ID the worms?

Thin and white.... about 1-2" long .. swims in a S shape in the water.. has a white head (the head area is slightly thicker).
 
#17 ·
+1, I asked the same question a few days ago. I read they came out if you overfeed but I have them in a newly set up tank without any fish/shrimp and of course I don't feed an empty tank. They may have come in with any plants. I don't like the looks but will live with it for now. I believe they are harmless.
 
#16 ·
To add to my reply above...

Every so often I go to a pet store and pick up a female guppy (just one) and drop her in for a day in each of my shrimp tanks. She pretty much eats everything in the water column and then I just return her to the store for free. A female guppy is like less than 2 bucks so it's cheap maintenance.
 
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