White worms EVERYWHERE after feeding tubifex worms

[CrashBandit05]

Like the title states, I've got a HUGE explosion of these tiny things everywhere in my 9gallon. It recently housed 6 harlequin rasboras, which have been moved to my 29gallon. Currently has one female betta, 4+ red cherry shrimp, and 1 mystery snail.

I'll notice the occasional worms after feeding but never this heavy. It seems the freeze-dried tubifex worms came back to life in my tank (which I know is impossible). I've rarely fed the 9gallon in the last week to see if the worm population dies back but it doesn't seem to have worked. 

This tank is almost 2 years old, has one giant amazon sword that takes up majority of the space and tons of water spangles floating up top.

I'll do a major gravel vac/water change tomorrow and see if it helps.

Tank parameters:

pH-7

NO2-0

NO3-80

[Theplatymaster]

@CrashBandit05

can you please get a closer picture of the worms, its hard to tell from this picture.

[Guppysnail]

I sometimes get a protein film on the water surface after feeding freeze dried tubifex. You can see almost shiny rainbows on the surface. This makes gas exchange difficult and lowers oxygen in my tanks. I’ve tested that theory with a dissolved oxygen test kit. Couple that with your surface floating spangles reducing surface area (duckweed and salvinia for me) It drives all my bladder snails up the walls near the surface line. 
It could be reducing oxygen and driving your detritus worms out of the substrate in search of a more oxygen rich environment. 
 

[CrashBandit05]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:27 PM, Theplatymaster said:

@CrashBandit05

can you please get a closer picture of the worms, its hard to tell from this picture.

My phone camera sucks lol. Samsung Galaxy s20.. you should be able to zoom in the picture to see them.

On 3/15/2023 at 7:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

I sometimes get a protein film on the water surface after feeding freeze dried tubifex. You can see almost shiny rainbows on the surface. This makes gas exchange difficult and lowers oxygen in my tanks. I’ve tested that theory with a dissolved oxygen test kit. Couple that with your surface floating spangles reducing surface area (duckweed and salvinia for me) It drives all my bladder snails up the walls near the surface line. 
It could be reducing oxygen and driving your detritus worms out of the substrate in search of a more oxygen rich environment. 
 

This seems like it could be a likely cause! Thanks 😊 

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:34 PM, CrashBandit05 said:

you should be able to zoom in the picture to see them.

i can zoom in on the picture, but it doesnt help.

i am looking for more detail, which zooming it does not help with.

here is what i see when i zoom in:

On 3/15/2023 at 7:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

It could be reducing oxygen and driving your detritus worms out of the substrate in search of a more oxygen rich environment. 
 

they look short for detritus worms.

Edited Wednesday at 11:38 PM by Theplatymaster

[Guppysnail]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:21 PM, CrashBandit05 said:

It recently housed 6 harlequin rasboras, which have been moved to my 29gallon. Currently has one female betta, 4+ red cherry shrimp, and 1 mystery snail.

An afterthought it may have nothing at all to do with the tubifex other than coincidental timing. Rasboras are fierce voracious micro predators. No tiny living critter stands a chance against most rasbora. Removing them may have allowed their population to flourish to a much higher level. Betta are predatory but on the very lazy predator side (at least mine was) 

[Andy's Fish Den]

Looks like detritus worms. You will see them from feeding a lot. Most of the time fish will pick them off and keep in check but occasionally they will have an explosion of growth. Gravel vac the substrate will get a lot of them out, watch feeding amount. 

[Pepere]

Usually I see detritus worms swimming through the water column.  I dont usually see them crawling on my glass.  Of course I havent seen any since I put fish in my tank….

 

That is my experience, but I certainly can understand if other people have had other experience…

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@nabokovfan87 do these look like the worms you're seeing?

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:16 AM, Pepere said:

That is my experience, but I certainly can understand if other people have had other experience…

I've seen them on glass. Might be a different species or something?

Tank full of corydoras, they go on the glass.

On 3/16/2023 at 4:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@nabokovfan87 do these look like the worms you're seeing?

Yep......

[Lennie]

On 3/16/2023 at 7:43 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yep......

I don't think these are like yours 🤔

P.S: Made my avatar my snail for you as you love snails @nabokovfan87 🙃

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:46 AM, Lennie said:

I don't think these are like yours 🤔

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:57 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

 

Isn’t this a new setup? Did they come in on plants or something?