ChefConfit Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 Anyone know what these are, if they are dangerous to my shrimp and or plants, and how to get rid of them. They're way smaller than any detritus worms I've had in the past and seem to stick close together almost in a cloud, but it could just be that they are staying in a low flow area. I sucked as many as I could out during a water change a few days ago and now you can't even tell I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) It looks like detritus worms Edited February 25, 2021 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanni Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 They might be some isopods or something like that. I don't think that detritus worms float in the tank like that. When did you start seeing them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefConfit Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 About a week ago. I've had detritus worms before and these are nowhere as big as them. These are 2 maybe 3 millimeters long max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanni Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 They might be some infusoria? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 The ones I have that are most similar are oligochaets. As far as I can glean, worms are typically not a problem. High numbers may indicate overfeeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 And with a little patience, the worm population invariably collapses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefConfit Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 I've reduced feeding to every other day, but even then it's so hard to not overfeed when there's only 16 shrimp. Even a small pinch is to much food. 2 females are berried though so my colony will hopefully be growing quite rapidly soon and overfeeding won't be as easy. Water parameters are good and pretty stable so I was really only concerned if they posed a threat to my shrimp. I think this is my 4th or 5th attempt at starting a colony and I promised my wife it it didn't work out this time I'd give up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toobit67 Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Something is living in your tank! I would take that as a compliment) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWilson Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Sorry it’s hard to see in the pictures but it looks a lot like something that bloomed in my 55 gallon tank when it was relatively new and I also had biofilm everywhere, they weren’t worms though it almost looked more like little white leaves that were stuck to the glass. I wiped those off the glass and sucked them out when I water changed and they’re gone. I believe you when you say they are worms though. Detritus worms shouldn’t hurt shrimp but planeria can harm them when the shrimp are vulnerable after molting. They look pretty different. Planeria have like an arrowhead shaped head on one end and a tail that comes to a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Anyway you can set your lens to manual? Or if you have a magnifying glass handy stick it up to the tank glass so its touching and take a picture with your phone. It's impossible to I.D white blurry speck. Chances are they are not harmful to your shrimp. Can range from mites to copepods and everything in between Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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