Please help!! Eeeewwwwww

[justme9984]

There are red, thread-like worms in my fish tanks. I noticed some white worms (maybe planaria)? Last water change, this week I'm seeing lots of red thread-like worms, most over 1/2"-1" long. I'm completely grossed out. What are they and how do I get rid of them!? I am trying to cut back on feeding and do water changes about every 5-7 days. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[mommy1]

Continue what you are doing. Feed less and water change. Don't forget to vacuum the gravel real well during each water change and you will see a decrease in the worms. I'm surprised your fish are not eating them. Don't forget to clean the filter with one of those water changes, if worms are in the tank, they are probably in the filter too.

[Spardas]

Exactly how big is the tank? What kind of fishes are you keeping and what are you feeding?

[talldutchie]

Yeah... If this happened in my tank I'd just stop feeding until the worms are gone.

[justme9984]

Thank you for the replies! I've seen the white worms in my 40 gallon tank (a variety of fish, 2 angels, 2 swordtails and 2 panda garra). They get natural flakes 2x a day, occasional bloodworms and a couple shrimp pellets for the pandas. The other tank where I've seen the red worms is only a 10 gallon. It houses some shrimp (maybe 10-12) and baby guppies.
I'm a little concerned for MY health, too (since I suck the end of the vacuum hose :/ ).

[talldutchie]

There's two things you can get from an aquarium, that's a serious case of the runs but you'd need to swallow water for that. Then there's fish tbc or Mycobacterium. If you work in an infected tank and you have cuts on your hands then you can catch that. The worms won't do you any harm.

As to your problem, I think you overfeed on the big tank. I'd say fast for 4 days at least. After that I'd say go back to once a day feeding.

The smaller tank is a bit more of an issue. Once the baby guppies are big enough you could try a garra in there but I'm a bit concerned about the shrimp. There is an product you could use agains tthe worms that's based on betelnut, won't harm the shrimp.

[justme9984]

What product is that? Is there another product I can use on the 40 gallon that doesn't have shrimp? Thank you :)