# Little red worms? :S



## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Alrighty, so I was checking the water, and I saw this little red worm wriggling through the water. I managed to catch it on the side of the net, because its way to small and would go through the holes... Whats is this thing? It's freaking me out, I just put it in cold un treated tap water and it's still alive :S It's this harmful to my fish? My fish appear to be healthy, I'm about to preform a water change... But if anyone can help me out identifing these little worms thats would be awesome. Thanks!


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Do you feed live bloodworms? Or have you ever done? Maybe it's a leftover or an egg has hatched?


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Um I don't feed live blood worms. I have freeze dried ones... I tried to take a pitcure of the worm but the pictures are really fuzzy... And now my mom has dumped the little worm thing down the drain so there is no hope for retakes.


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## GregV (Aug 10, 2007)

there are some substrate cleaning worms that develop in your gravel/sand, this could be what it is, but they are usually white.

If there is no signs of odd behaviour in your fish, i would say there is nothing to worry about.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Alright... Sounds good. I found way more in the filter though. my fish seem to be alright, there was higher than usual nitrate levels though. I just did a water change. I don't know if this is bad. But I'll check the nitrate levels again to see if they have gone down, it's usualy like 5.0 - 10 but now I would say it's closer to 20... I believe that is still ok right? Thanks for all your replies.


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## JouteiMike (Oct 7, 2006)

What kind of tank set up do you have?
How long has it been set up?
What type of fish/how many do you keep?

You said you don't feed live blood worms...but do you give any other types of live food or feeder fish? I'm thinking they're nematodes.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

JouteiMike said:


> What kind of tank set up do you have?
> What type of fish/how many do you keep?


 I have a 10 gallon, with 5 swordtails, 1 male and 4 females. I have one apple snail, and three shrimp... Ummm I can't remember the names of the shrimp, starts with a y and they are algea eaters. the water parameters read pH 7.6, ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates 10ppm (was up to 20 but I preformed a water change) I've been doing some research myself, but all the pictures of the worms I see don't really look like my guys,I just want to know if I need to be worried... I don't want tons of these guys swimming around in my tank :S.


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## JouteiMike (Oct 7, 2006)

Well they are typically harmless. The only thing that should worry you is when you see A LOT of them in the tank. It can look unsightly, and they can deplete oxygen levels and take a toll on your biological filtration. 

So you've never given any kind of live food? When you received the fish, you could have gotten the worms from the fish store. Just keep an eye out...a small amount isn't a problem, but when they increase in numbers, you will need to take action with plenty of water changes or even with anti-parasitic treatments.


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

mybe lil bit of table salt will help


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

JouteiMike said:


> anti-parasitic treatments.


 Will this threatment kill my snail or shrimp? I love those little guys, they are my favorite part of my tank! Thank you for your advise, I feel slightly better... Even though I'm scared of my fish tank now... I'm not down with the whole little buggy worms floating around in a tank I put my hand in  Ha... It's alright I'm sure I'll get over it. Thanks a lot!


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Levamisole hydrochloride might work on nematodes although I've never used it on shrimps and snails before so I am not sure if that will harm them.


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