Help Identifying and Removing Small Hairlike Worms in Aquarium?

Question

I have two 75 gallon tanks, one with oscars and a black ghost knife and another with angels and assorted tetras. The past few weeks I've noticed hundreds of these worms in both tanks. They are in the gravel and on the underside of the hood. Both tanks have been well established for over 3 years and no new stock has been added for over 1 year. I've tried to remove excess food by siphoning the gravel once a day for a week and cleaning the entire filter system. Nothing seems to get rid of them. All the water parameters are good. They don't seem to cause any harm to the fish but are an eyesore. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd resort to chemical warfare as a last ditch effort but am not too sure what the worms are and don't want to harm my fish. See the links below for pictures.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r17/ConnieB247/DSC01443.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r17/ConnieB247/DSC01442.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r17/ConnieB247/DSC01242.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r17/ConnieB247/DSC01229.jpg

After reading the answers here I quizzed my 6 year son. When asked why a 5 lbs. bulk bag of shrimp pellets that should last me a year or more is a lot lower than it should be, he confessed that he's taken on the responsibility of feeding the fish when we aren't looking. "They like it when I feed them lots and lots, Daddy" he says with much enthusiasm. This explains why I didn't think overfeeding was the problem. At least he meant well.

Answer 1

These Aren't planaria - planaria are flat and wide-bodied, with definite eyespots, and only crawl along the glass and gravel. Here's a few photos of what these will look like: http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/articles/critters/planaria1JOHNSON.jpg , http://kamakura.cool.ne.jp/shippokudo/c.planaria.jpg

What you have appears to be a nematode or Gordian worm (these have no segmentation or "rings" on the body like an earthworm has). Some types are parasitic, but others are harmless. Since yours appear to be more interested in eating the slime (bacteria) on the glass of the tank, I would consider these to be a harmless type. They do indicate that there's probably too much waste in the gravel of the tank (and I know how messy of eaters oscars can be). Since you've just been doing daily vacuuming for about a week, it may be too early yet for the population to really have changed that much. I would just continue to do frequent cleanings of the gravel and be sure you aren't overfeeding the fish.

See the link below for more about nematodes:

Answer 2

Aquarium Worms Identification

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Help Identifying and Removing Small Hairlike Worms in Aquarium?
I have two 75 gallon tanks, one with oscars and a black ghost knife and another with angels and assorted tetras. The past few weeks I've noticed hundreds of these worms in both tanks. They are in the gravel and on the underside of the hood. Both tanks have been well established for over 3 years...

Answer 4

Those are planaria worms. They won't hurt your fish, but they are a sign of overfeeding, or having too many nutrients in your tank. You need to vacuum the gravel really well for several days in a row to get rid of any uneaten food in it and stop feeding your fish so much.

The tank with the oscars is a bit of a problem because you can't add any small fish to eat the worms that won't get eaten by the oscars and feeder guppies or goldfish that might eat the worms might have diseases that would be passed along to your oscars if they ate them. I'd say your best bet is to try to starve them out. Feed your fish tiny amounts and make sure they eat every speck of the food. Keep your tank water very very clean with water changes and thorough vacuuming of the substrate and the worms should go away.

If you don't feed the fish in the tank with the tetras and angels for several days, the fish should eat the planaria worms and get rid of them fairly quickly.

Answer 5

We had this very same thing happen. They actually disappeared after about a month. I found a good site with more info...
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/having_trouble_p2.htm
Hope this helps.

Answer 6

I would try one of the parasitic Rx's available for aquariums. jungle has one that I use in mine.