Mysterious worm type things in my tank... friend or foe?

[Penny]

Hey all..

I'm hoping someone could help me identify the worm type things that have appeared in my tank...

Theres quite a lot of them on the glass. They're tiny, 2mm long and a bit thicker than hair but not by much.

You cant really see detail on my pic but they're long and thin.. have a end that's definitely the head end.. the move by contracting and stretching and they have a thicker section in the middle.

My tank is a 27 gal tall  6 neon, 6 cherry shrimp, 6 Cory's and at least 6 cory fry. All inhabitants  went in two weeks ago and the fish shop said they all been quarantined  for the last month to 6 weeks.

Any help is greatly appreciated 

[Fish Folk]

Well, the two most common candidates would be Planaria, or Detritus worms. Planaria scoot on the glass like a fast-moving slug. Detritus worms wiggle wildly like out of control water snakes. But your image looks like something else maybe... some sort of nematode? 

[Penny]

Ooh.. thank you.. they're definitely  more fast moving slug, than out of control water snake (awesome descriptions btw) but it's more like a leech with that 'stretch and contract' movement.

I'll have a look at nematodes. Thanks again

[Brandy]

Hmm, I have seen similar I think, but not sure what they were either--other than, in my case, FREE FISH FOOD!! Hopefully the neons notice them soon. The reason I have no idea what they are is that I no sooner noticed them than the fish did and they were just gone.

[Aubrey]

On 2/18/2021 at 1:08 PM, Aubrey said:

So many different worms live in my tank.

 

I'm going to say they are some species of detritus worm.  I've noticed at least three different kinds of worm in my tank, but they are hardly visible with the naked eye. I wish I knew more about what exactly they are myself. I think the one in the video above has a similar blobby end and pointy end.

[Aubrey]

I did some research to find a name for what I shared a video of. If you you have what I have then they are called Aeolosoma.

[Penny]

Great work @Aubrey That's exactly what it is.  Thank you so much

And these are fine to be in there? As cute as that little guy is in your video, I do hope they're some free live food!

[Aubrey]

4 minutes ago, Penny said:

these are fine to be in there?

I'm not concerned about them. I imagine I would have heard of what they were called or it would have come up easier when doing a search if they were an issue.

[Barqs Mom]

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I had them too. They appeared about a week after I set up my 40gal. I'd added a large piece of a waterlogged tree branch I'd picked up along the Columbia River, not too far from where I live. I'd boiled it in a huge stock pot for 6 hours and then put it in my oven at 200°F for 4 days. Anyways these worms started showing up after I'd planted a bunch of live plants, rocks and the tree branch.       I got rid of them by adding 2 generous tablespoons of Hydrogen Peroxide to the water. Yep it killed them, but didn't harm the plants. 6 weeks later I added 4 more plants bought locally, and 3 tiger barbs ($0.25) sized ones to the aquarium. Today while feeding them I saw more of these worms on the glass, some in mid-water. So if it's true these worms won't harm my fish, I won't quarantine them while I kill the worms.

[Philip]

14 hours ago, Aubrey said:

I did some research to find a name for what I shared a video of. If you you have what I have then they are called Aeolosoma.

Well done, Aubrey. I will keep you in my rolodex should I have an ichithyological mystery.