FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Ahhh what are these things. We found them under the gravel today when cleaning. Also our two plecs are now dead, and our nitrite level is reading just below dangerous 0.3 all other readings are low / neg. What has happened everything was fine yesterday and this morning all were swimming fine.

Cannot see what we have done wrong. How do I get rid of these wormmy things and where have they came from?

Help really required before more deaths.

Have just done a 25% water cahnge and added Prime.

Anything else I can do?

The worms are probably Planaria. In themselves they are harmless and had nothing to do with the deaths. But they and possibly the nitrite reading are symptoms of overfeeding.

Ease up on the feeding, even fast the fish for a day or so. Water changes to dilute the nitrites.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

As bensaf said it's likely planaria which are harmless but they are a sign of poor water quality. They show up when there's alot of uneaten food or waste on the bottom of the tank which also causes ammonia, nitrite, or high nitrate levels. Also low water circulation seems to benefit them. What size is the tank? What fish are in the tank? How much filtration do you have? How often do you do water changes and gravel vac? Finally do you have a nitrate test and can post the numbers? All of the above are needed to really help at all.

Ok we do a weekly water change, have a Fluval 404 and only feed what can be eaten in 3 mins a couple of times a week. The tank is fine at mo but will be getting bigger at the end of the year 54US G. 3 fish in it (fancys).

Think I know what the prob is .. our own fault but we have only just bought a gravel cleaner / syphon prev to that my other half was adament that he could scoop out the water change each week with a jug.

We used the syphon a few days ago and stirred up a lot of yuk stuff. I think that this must have had gas bubbles in it which were released when we cleaned the gravel and this has caused the nitrite to rise. Both nitrite and nitrate are within limits just.

Its the only thing I can think of.

Well that would explain it. Goldfishand Plecos are the biggest poopers out there.

The gas bubbles are a sign the substrate is anaerobic and the gas released is sulphuric, very dangerous. This can happen if it wasn't vacumed, It compacts and the dirt is trapped there and finally builds up gases which are then released when you stir the substrate.

Giving the substrate a good clean regularly and the water changes should get everything back under control

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

You can't just scoop the water off the top The junk you need to remove sinks. A bigger tank will probably help so long as you keep up on gravel vacs. Also if you have no plants(probably not with goldfish) then having 1" or less of gravel helps avoid the low oxygen spots.