[Jupiter]

Not sure if this is the right place for it, but...

My dad has a tank (about 20 gal. I believe) in his office that's filled with guppies and platies and their bazillion offspring.

It's...pretty dirty. The gravel is, at least. The tank is planted with a huge amazon sword and something else i'm not sure of, but the bottom has a lot of gunk and uneaten food.

Anyway, the point is, I've noticed my dad's tank has these weird...worm things...in the gravel. They pop out when the fish are being fed.
They're pretty big actually, for worms, the biggest I saw was about 2 inches or so.

They look kinda like...fish poo tbh. Same colour anyway, and they're long and more on the thin side.

I don't think they attack or harm the fish, not that I've seen. The fish will occasionally bite them and they'll retreat to the gravel, but I haven't seen the worms harming the fish physically.

Still, they're really gross and i'd like to know what they are and if we can get rid of them. :-?

 

[Olympia]

Sounds gross. Too big to be bloodworms, maybe they are black worms?
The best thing to do is stir up the gravel, vacuum well. Some will say not to disturb gravel, but a one time cleaning would be for the best. You want to limit the amount of food getting to the bottom to prevent this from happening again..
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[Jupiter]

Looking at it on google, they do look pretty similar...

I have no idea how they were introduced to the tank, though. My dad only feeds his fish flakes.

 

[Olympia]

Gah. They can come in from tap water even as eggs. There was just enough food for them to colonize the tank.

 

[Jupiter]

Never drinking from the tap again...

Well, thanks. When my dad comes back we'll probably clean it together. It's way too high for me to reach by myself, lol.

 

[xShainax]

Ew

 

[Olympia]

:lol: the things in tap water!

 

[Thomasdog]

um.. ew.. I drink tap water... BLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! *starts vomiting feeling little slimy things*

 

[xShainax]

:lol: the things in tap water!

Good name for a horror movie. :lol:

 

[MistersMom]

seriously? in tap water? oh my lord... i feel sick now...

 

[dbooknook]

Oh, I know. I think they are tubifex worms! My science teacher was talking about them while I was in school(fortunately its summer for me).

 

[Jupiter]

Oh, I know. I think they are tubifex worms! My science teacher was talking about them while I was in school(fortunately its summer for me).

That looks like them! What's the difference between these and black worms? They looks pretty similar...

 

[Laki]

um in tap water? Treated with chlorine and all that good stuff which makes it unsafe for fish?? wth?

 

[Olympia]

Gosh, there's no other explanation for it, I swear! :-D
You can leave some tap water with some algae or whatever daphnia eat and you'll hatch em from nothing. Maybe chlorine doesn't kill the microscopic eggs, but they can't hatch in it?
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[Tazman]

Dont forget Tap water left out overnight will gas most of the bad stuff off.
Eggs if they are encased can sometimes make it through the system but it is highly unlikely they would survive the processes at the treatment works.

 

[Olympia]

Ah, Taz, where do you think these things come from? I've gotten everything from Daphnia to hydra to Copepods of various sorts, usually not within any reasonable time of adding plants or anything to the tank.
Anyways, I don't think most tap water places go through very thorough treatment. From what we learnt at school, it's mostly removal of metals, organics being consumed by bacteria and removal of nitrates which are considered the most vital. Things like RO, UV, distillation, all remove things like bacteria and viruses, but most cities don't do this for tap water.
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[Laki]

Mine has a lot of chlorine in it.. It smells like a public swimming pool ...