# Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??



## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

okay so I turned my filter on today and when I did about 25 small white worms shot out in the water, they were twitching and the fish were eating them. are they a parasite and should I treat my tank? I also have a molly with some cloudy spots I made another thread about it a week or so ago. anyone have any ideas on what these are? google was no help. thanks


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*

Why are you turning your filter off? It should be on ALL the time! Unless you are cleaning the tank and will be pulling out more water than the filter can reach - then shut it off until you refill the tank - but other than that, it should NEVER be off!


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*

ew sounds nasty. I wonder too why you would turn the filter off? And how long it would have to be off for worms to gather? I second, leave the filter on all the time except during water changes


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*



holly12 said:


> Why are you turning your filter off? It should be on ALL the time! Unless you are cleaning the tank and will be pulling out more water than the filter can reach - then shut it off until you refill the tank - but other than that, it should NEVER be off!





Summer said:


> ew sounds nasty. I wonder too why you would turn the filter off? And how long it would have to be off for worms to gather? I second, leave the filter on all the time except during water changes



lol.. because I have two filters and when my bubble wall is on at night i turn my big emperor 400 with dual biowheels off and leave my single biowheel penguin on. too much current with a 40 inch bubble wall AND the equivalent of 3 filters. fish cant sleep still how they like. but anyway can anyone help me with the present problem? my fish eat these tiny worms, they crawl on the glass if they are able to stick to it after shooting out of the filter. Ive read that small white worms are harmless and just a snack for fish but these are teeny tiny worms and ive seen pictures of parasites on fish that look similar so im trying to be safe. I took a video of one crawling on the glass ill post it later when I get home.


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*

bump.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*

Hmmmm... the only thing I'd be worried about, is lack of aeration in a filter will cause the good bacteria to die.....

Not sure on the worms though. We cleaned the lid of our 36g this weekend and saw what looked like a few thin white worms dried on the lid.. not sure what's going on. Nothing' amiss in the tank - other than the battle of the ick.


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

*Re: Small white "worms" came out of my filter when i turned it on!! parasite??*



holly12 said:


> Hmmmm... the only thing I'd be worried about, is lack of aeration in a filter will cause the good bacteria to die.....
> 
> Not sure on the worms though. We cleaned the lid of our 36g this weekend and saw what looked like a few thin white worms dried on the lid.. not sure what's going on. Nothing' amiss in the tank - other than the battle of the ick.


im thinking they're harmless and they most likely came on one of my plants. the molly's spots are almost completely gone after I turned up temp to 82 and added salt. My fish seem to love eating them and none of my fish are sick or have anything wrong with them. maybe they are just a type of small aquatic worm that eats bacteria or old food and waste. if anyone has an idea of what they are please post! *c/p*


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