Long, thin worm in my tank. Harmful?

[freon]

I found a long, thin worm climbing the walls of my 60 gallon tank. It has a yellowish-reddish translucent body. And it looks awfully similar to this one - [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

When I tried to suck it up with my handy turkey baster (which I use *only* with the tank), it shrunk itself to a small reddish blob, while still hanging on to the tank wall. I did suck it out anyway and put it in a glass bottle to observe it.

What is it? Is it harmful to the legitimate inhabitants (platys, neons, shrimp). I have not seen any worms dangling from any of the fish, though platys have long strings of poo in general, and I did spot translucent poo on one of them a week ago.

- Tabs

[Lady Hobbs]

You might try to get it with your net. But I would clean that gravel really well with the vac. You don't want worms in your tank no matter what kind they are. Could be from over feeding and food is laying on the bottom.

[freon]

Agreed, and I do usually vac pretty thoroughly. Any ideas on what it is, however? It's light-sensitive, by the way, when I shine a flashlight at it to see it better in the bottle (where I now have it captured), it definitely tries to slither away from the light.

[jman]

i have heard and seen thpeople call them some type of nematode but i really dont know when i searched for it through other forums this is what they gave me

[Jacko]

Is it segmented like an earthworm or completely whole like? Could be a tubifex worm, but they are usually brown. Maybe a glass worm? White worm, grindal worm. Look those up and see if they look anything like your little bugger.

[freon]

I looked at it hard and it doesn't really seem to have segments. When I shine the light through it (it's translucent), I see slightly darker shaded "blobs" inside its gut, but that might just be its gut. The "mouth" end seems to have a slightly whitish tip to it. At full extention when it's creeping along, it's about 1.5 inches, but it shrinks and doubles-up almost down to a quarter inch (0.25")!

Definitely doesn't look like tubifex. Grindal worms seem too short for a match.

[Jacko]

Hmmm... I'll look through all my books and in the disease/parasite section as well as the feeding one, maybe they'll have something that matches more to it. Post back tomorrow or Sunday with what I find.

[Kula]

Planaria, most likely.

[Mvjnz]

Most tanks have other things living in the besides what the owner put in them. It's perfectly normal and most of the time completely harmless. It's just a sign that you have a balanced, well-working tank.

[Jacko]

I've checked all my book and can't find much mention of worms besides tubifex and anchor worms, only 1 of them even mentions planeria. At least, all that I could read, haven't read that much since june!:hmm3grin2orange:
Good way to get ready for school I guess.

I'll keep looking, but I don't think it is a planeria though. They can get big, about 1 inch is the biggest I've seen one but they are also extremely fat and more brown at that size. And lets just hope it isn't an anchor worm.

[Kula]

I'll keep looking, but I don't think it is a planeria though. They can get big, about 1 inch is the biggest I've seen one but they are also extremely fat and more brown at that size. And lets just hope it isn't an anchor worm.
Not all planaria are fat, nor are they all brown. It just depends on the species.

[Jacko]

Yeah, I know. I just said that the only one that I've seen that was over 1 inch was really fat and brown, I haven't seen a picture of a large white or thin planeria. I think the one that I saw was a Dugesia tigrina.