How do I get rid of Tiny Red Worms in my pond?

Question

All my pond fish died. I found a pecan shell in the bottom of the pond, when I drained it. I also found hundreds of tiny red worms in the water, in the algae on the sides of the pond, and in the filters. The plants are doing just fine. How can I get rid of the worms, so I can put fish back in the pond.

Answer 1

The "worms" you're seeing aren't a parasite. These are a midge larvae. A midge is a small fly that lays it's eggs in the water to hatch, much like a mosquito. These are what's sold in pet stores as bloodworms, and any that the fish will see, they'll eat. The larvae themselves eat plant matter, and will construct a small tube of plant debris they will live inside.

I get these in my ponds frequently, and I leave some dead plants leaves in for them, so I can harvest them for my bettas and guppies to eat.

If you can catch one to look at it under a microscope, this is what it would look like: http://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/albums/album30/Chironomidae_1.jpg

From the sounds of it, yours are still fairly small. Some species will get a little more than an inch long before they emerge from the pond as a flying adult.

Answer 2

Red Worms In Fish

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do I get rid of Tiny Red Worms in my pond?
All my pond fish died. I found a pecan shell in the bottom of the pond, when I drained it. I also found hundreds of tiny red worms in the water, in the algae on the sides of the pond, and in the filters. The plants are doing just fine. How can I get rid of the worms, so I can put fish back in...

Answer 4

Don't get rid of these. These are blood worms and they are an excellent food for most fish. If you have aquariums collect some of these and feed them to your fish. If you want to keep the pond, find out why your fish died, correct this problem and get some new fish in there. They'll love the worms, grow quickly, healthy and have great color.

Answer 5

not sure but just keep them in there or drain your pond they prob. cant live outta water and get a spoon to get them out of the bucket (u put ur fish in a bucket so they can live) and kepp the fish in the bucket 4 a day and the pond will dry out and the worms will die then put the fish back in AFTER you fill it with water

Answer 6

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Answer 7

might be mosquito larve, they often look like little worms.

mosquito fish will take care of the problem, and they are livebearers so it wont be long until you have a big pond full of them.

Also if this is the case, check your filter system, mosquitos only can lay eggs in non moving water, so you might want to add a waterfall system, or pump.

Answer 8

What ever you use make sure its strong enough to kill the birds that ingest the worms. Also, if you have small children or pets spray it on extra thick so they can get really sick and bring the residue into the house. Oh and make sure you overwater your lawn wasting hundreds of gallons each year so people can not really care about what your lawn looks like.

Answer 9

copper haed is corrct

Answer 10

they have them coming out of there rectum they are long