Worm bloom in tank, QU

[pancake]

I currently have a quarantine tank for 6 Kuhli loaches that arrived yesterday. The only other creature in there is a pest bladder snail (looks like it layed super clear eggs too). This afternoon, this tank has a ton of white worms all over the glass. There were not there this morning nor ever before. My other two tanks do not have worms. The only thing I can think of, is that the worms must have came from this plant on a coconut husk ball. It came from a big box store in a waterless bag with a pest free guarantee. Never touched their store tanks.

My quarantine tank does have leaves that are breaking down, but other than that, there shouldn't be much in there. Last water change/gravel vac was a couple days ago after moving my Betta out of there. I did about 50% water. I would have noticed if they were there.

The tank is glass bottom, so I guess that is why many of the worms are on the walls instead of the floor with the loaches? I'm pretty sure the longer thread looking worms are detritus worms because they move like earthworms, but there are so many micro worms on the glass walls rn that are so small I can't tell if they are moving like an earthworm or if they are gliding. They are like micro threads.

I guess my question is, will the Kuhli loaches eat all these worms? Do planaria start out super small? Would planaria hurt my loaches while I'm waiting for them to get bigger so I can tell how they are moving? Would keeping the ball plant be a bad idea later or even a bad idea rn? I just find it so odd that all these worms could be coming from it when nothing is suppose to.

[Guppysnail]

Planarians do not start out as the thin hairlike worms. They just look like mini ones.  Detritus worm is my guess and your loaches will find them to be a fabulous buffet. 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 3/17/2024 at 5:56 PM, pancake said:

I currently have a quarantine tank for 6 Kuhli loaches that arrived yesterday. The only other creature in there is a pest bladder snail (looks like it layed super clear eggs too). This afternoon, this tank has a ton of white worms all over the glass. There were not there this morning nor ever before. My other two tanks do not have worms. The only thing I can think of, is that the worms must have came from this plant on a coconut husk ball. It came from a big box store in a waterless bag with a pest free guarantee. Never touched their store tanks.

My quarantine tank does have leaves that are breaking down, but other than that, there shouldn't be much in there. Last water change/gravel vac was a couple days ago after moving my Betta out of there. I did about 50% water. I would have noticed if they were there.

The tank is glass bottom, so I guess that is why many of the worms are on the walls instead of the floor with the loaches? I'm pretty sure the longer thread looking worms are detritus worms because they move like earthworms, but there are so many micro worms on the glass walls rn that are so small I can't tell if they are moving like an earthworm or if they are gliding. They are like micro threads.

I guess my question is, will the Kuhli loaches eat all these worms? Do planaria start out super small? Would planaria hurt my loaches while I'm waiting for them to get bigger so I can tell how they are moving? Would keeping the ball plant be a bad idea later or even a bad idea rn? I just find it so odd that all these worms could be coming from it when nothing is suppose to.

I assume that @Guppysnail is right, but any chance you can get a photo? Or are they too small?

[pancake]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:18 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

I assume that @Guppysnail is right, but any chance you can get a photo? Or are they too small?

They are far too small. But I did notice today that there seems to be way less worms now and some have a tan hue. So I guess they are eating the deteriorating leaf particles near them.

I did see a couple of longer but still super small worms next to some snails eggs. Maybe I can get a photo of that later when the light is on if they are still there and visible. But they look like white threads and may not show up well in a photo either but I can try. Idk if they are entering the eggs or just crawl on them.

My bladder snail is still super active on the glass, and laid another cluster of eggs today. I guess it's eating the worms? Sometimes it runs over the tiny worms on the glass and they just wiggle a little then stay where they are or run a little bit in the same direction of the snail then calm down.

[spokanejared]

On 3/18/2024 at 5:56 PM, pancake said:

They are far too small. But I did notice today that there seems to be way less worms now and some have a tan hue. So I guess they are eating the deteriorating leaf particles near them.

I did see a couple of longer but still super small worms next to some snails eggs. Maybe I can get a photo of that later when the light is on if they are still there and visible. But they look like white threads and may not show up well in a photo either but I can try. Idk if they are entering the eggs or just crawl on them.

My bladder snail is still super active on the glass, and laid another cluster of eggs today. I guess it's eating the worms? Sometimes it runs over the tiny worms on the glass and they just wiggle a little then stay where they are or run a little bit in the same direction of the snail then calm down.

From my experience you have to much of a food source in the tank. Feed less frequently or smaller amounts and that should sort your issue out.