FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I know FP doesn't do reptiles & amphibians, but... My daughter found a pinkish worm thingy wiggleling about in the newt tank. It lookes about the thickness of sewing thread and no more than 1/2 a cm long. I'm afraid to put my hand in the tank. (the kid has no fear.) The various sites we've looked at says basically the newt can suffer from the same ailments as (scaleless?) fish. Where in the sam hill did this thing come from, how do I get rid of it, and how do I prevent getting them ? We've found more black ones dead in the filter. The water is usually about 68F and the filter is a Tetra ReptoFilter for up to 20 gal (90gph). We have it in a 10 gal which is roughly about half filled. (the newt has to have some room to climb out onto something.) We have large gravel, artificial plants, a artificial rock cave and a few big rocks. My daughter religiously scrubs the contents with vinegar about every week to two weeks and rinses with tap water.
We've taken the newt out and placed it in a shallow bowl. She emptied as much water out as she could by hand (water pressure not strong enough for the python anymore). Added Hot water last night and again this morning. Raising the temp to 102F - 90F. Unfortunately we don't have a heater for the tank, since the preference for the newt is cool water. (Ideally 68F and lower, the highest we can go without stressing the newt is about 72F) I had my daughter place the tank on a heating pad, but it hasn't raised the temp much.
I'm also worried about it being or getting into my tropical aquarium.
Please give your opinion, I'll appreciate any help I can get.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Can you grab a picture?

Is it attaching itself to the newt or bothering it in any way?

I am unsure of what it might be, but it does not sound particularly harmful. Most things that are big enough to be seen are either parasitic and attach to the creature, or are harmless (and tend to get eaten). There are some intestinal worms that fish get and I assume newts would be similar, but that would be as simple as treating with an amphibian-safe wormer.

Do you use live food? Any new tank additions like driftwood or rocks? from existing tanks or moist areas?

I am a little concerned with the overcleaning. The filter should be strong enough to handle a good deal of the waste, and the vinegar has the potential to upset pH balance if it isn't rinsed off thoroughly, If every week the tank is being cleaned so thoroughly, your biofilter is taking quite a beating. You might want to consider scaling that back a bit as I think it has potential to have a negative impact on your tank health.

If the newt is out of the tank and this is worrying you, you can just throw in an amphibian-safe wormer that should kill them off. This does not cover the possibility of them being internal parasites, but if the newt passes any in his bowl, you are bound to see them

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi,
Your comment about your daughter religiously scrubbing
everything with vinegar every week or so, brought this to
mind:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/vinegar.htm

http://web.esc20.net/livsci/pdf/Handouts/LMP-15%20Vinegar%20Eels.pdf

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/eels.htm

Maybe???

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks as soon as I can have her look at the pics online to confirm whether it is or isn't what we saw, I'll let you know. Thanks for the help.
She cleans the tank lately because there was a film of bubbles building in the corners and over the water flow of the filter. Also there was algae growing on the rocks, cave, and artifical plants. There's no live plants in the tank. (She doesn't want to take care of that too.) The worm was free wiggling when she showed it to me. (Sorry, I kinda panicked and looked away.) It wasn't attached to the newt. But that doesn't mean it hadn't or wouldn't have, if we had not removed the newt from the water. It also could be perfectly harmless. I just don't know.

We don't use "live" foods. The newt is only fed "frozen" brine shrimp every two days. The tropical aquarium is fed a separate, varied diet of TetraMin, freeze dried bloodworms, green peas (crushed between the fingers), and just yesterday I caught frozen daphnia on sale.
(the tetramin is the staple, everything else is occasional.)
Frank,
If it is a vinegar eel, does that mean it is in the vinegar we buy at the grocery store? The article stated to cultivate them, use "apple cider vinegar". She's been scrubbing with "distilled white vinegar". Would that make a difference? And again... Is it in the bottle from the grocery store? That's a little freaky.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

The sugar in the ACV provides them with food. I have not ever seen them cultured in white so I'm not sure if that is possible.
I've had a look at mine, and even with the oldest cultures with the largest worms, I don't think you could see any colour at all on them.


What about maybe planaria? They might show pinkish. It would fit with the cleaning too, as they tend to like newly set-up tanks and tanks where there is overfeeding (that would fit with the film, the fast-growing algae, and the large stones tend to trap food and waste also.)




For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi
Callatya could be right too. Although I've only seen
white planaria worms.

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/

I do not believe the the worms come from the vinegar.
Now-a-days the vinegar is processed specifically to kill
off and remove those worms. However, they could easily
have come in on the rocks, substrate, or plants and then
found a home.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Sorry, I haven't replied lately, but I've had a few family crisis(plural) to deal with.

She looked at the planaria info and we think that was the problem. I suggested she cut down on the scrubbing and let the algae be. Also to cut the feeding amount for the newt down to 1/4 cube of brine shrimp. Even though the newt tries to eat all of it, it's obviously not getting it all. The lone ghost shrimp that was helping to eat the leftovers, and its poo, died about 2 weeks ago. Just found it belly up, so to speak, one morning. He was close to full size when I put it in the tank,so I think it was old age that got it. (The intention was it was to be a feeder, but he turned out to be the well fed." I went and replaced him this afternoon, with 3 little ones. Hopefully they will take up the slack of the deceased shrimp and have time to grow.

Thanks again for the help guys!

PS It's kinda hard to get through to an adult child. They still think they know everything until something goes wrong.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}