Hi everyone! So I've owned betts for a year now and I need to know what something is in my tank. I can't get a picture because I don't have a high-def camera, but I'll try to describe it the best I can.
It looks like a bunch of tiiiiiiny little white worm-like things on the insides of my tank, clinging to the glass. I mean, they are tiiiiiiny! But upon closer inspection, they are moving, and I need to know if these little guys are going to harm my betta.
I'm about to go on a 3 week vacation and I'm moving all 3 of my tanks over to my mother's house tomorrow so I'm about to do a full water purge ANYWAY, but I need to know if these things are harmful, if I should blast the tank with some malachite green before putting the filter media back in it, etc.
My betta does not seem stressed or sick in any way, but what ARE these little white worm things? They aren't on him, but every so often I see one floating in the water. I don't like them, they make my glass look icky. How do I get rid of them, and are they possibly living in my filter?
Thanks!
Edit: On further research I believe they are "planaria" but that doesn't tell me anything as to how to make it go away. Akani doesn't leave uneaten food in his take so it might be from me skimping on water changes... But I want to make sure.
Those are planarian worms or flatworms. These are often introduced on new live plants or fish and even a small population can be present but never noticed. If you're seeing them, that means you're feeding them well and THAT means usually overfeeding. Immediately cut back on how much you're feeding your bettas. Bettas only need a little food, like 2 pellets 2-3 times a day depending on their size. Take out any uneaten food after 10 minutes.
Planaria won't hurt bettas but if you have betta fry, they can occasionally harm those. Basically, to get rid of them, do a huge water change and suck as many of the worms up as you can, including stirring up the substrate. They *might* come back while you're on vacation, though. Just try and suck up as many worms and as much gunk in the gravel as you can. Just so you know, though, this deep a cleaning of the gravel may cause your beneficial bacteria population to drop a little. Check your ammonia before you go to make sure you're not experiencing an ammonia spike. Maybe your mom can continue to check the ammonia levels for a few days after your gone, too.
But the thing is, he's only fed once a day about 5 pellets because he's a BIG betta. He gets fasted at least once a week. Which is why I don't understand this problem. @_@ I'm moving my tanks today, so I'm thinking that once I drain the tank and store the filter media the old water I'm going to give the gravel a purge in the tub and add a bacteria supplement to the water when I set his tank back up.
Have you bought any new plants or anything recently? Maybe a bunch of the disgusting things hitch hiked. Weird, I don't get how you ended up with so many either. I hope the gravel purge works for you.
Well I have some bad news. :( I got my tanks moved, and my bettas are fine, but my boyfriend and I lost one of our angelfish. We don't know what happened... The water here isn't dangerous, but they were acting like they couldn't breathe. The black one freaked out, almost jumped the tank, and sunk to the bottom, not moving. My boyfriend, his dear heart, was like "We've got to use some of the water in the betta tank! It's safer!" And scoops up two bowls of water, gets the white angelfish in one bowl, and scoops the black tank out of the tank with his hand, into the bowl. He perked up for a second, then died. :( He's so upset because the angelfish are his, and I'm upset because I had no idea what to do... We're hoping the white fish makes it through the night.
Oh no! That's awful! I'm so sorry to hear that. Your boyfriend must be crushed. :( I wonder if they just got super stressed from the move? I don't know but I sure hope the white one makes it. Angelfish are so pretty, too, and a black/white pair sounds like a real visual impact. I'm crossing my fingers for your angelfish. And I'm also very glad to hear the betta tanks made it. Bettas are a lot hardier than people give them credit for.
We just don't understand what happened. They had a 60/40 mix of new/old water in their tank, I used water conditioner, it was the same temperature... It was added slowly... The filter was going... They just absolutely freaked out. The white one is in his bowl floating in the water and he told me before he left for the night that he wants the white one in the tank before I go to bed since the water is safer (I used AmQuel+ and NovAqua+ since the city of Clearwater has extra stuff in their water and they were already so stressed). I had never seen them so frantic. To make sure it wasn't something in the old water mixed with the new, we did a total flush on the gravel with new water before we put the A&N in it. Hopefully the white one makes it... He said he's going to get another angelfish when we get back from vacation, and to help with the leftover food in the tank he's going to get an albino bristlenose pleco this weekend. ( thanks Lion Mom :) )
I can only guess that they were stressed from their trip. That's my only explanation because it sounds like everything else was A-OK. The water was right, the temp was right, the filter was right. Something just did them in somehow. I sure hope the white one makes it. It's scary when fish freak out, isn't it? Keep us posted. Fingers crossed. >< Eyes crossed. Toes crossed. I'll even braid my hair so that's crossed.
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Little white worms? Help plz!
