is this a disease?

[mdplavnik]

I saw a weird worm in my sand...it was white and about 1/4th to 1/2 of inch long...what is it and what can i do to get rid of it or do i need to ?

 

[Wolverine]

Can you get a picture?

What you've described can be many things. Most of them benign.

Dave

 

[mdplavnik]

i could not - it was a small worm, jumped from my sand as i was stirring it and into another part ... it was maybe millimeter or 2 round and about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch long - white with a few light stripes across... what could it be ? i dont have any fish but i've had some weird issues going on...my ph fluctuating for example...

 

[mdplavnik]

correction... i dont have any new fish... just 2 clowns and a green chromis for the past 3 months...

 

[Wolverine]

It's hard to say without a picture, but it's probably just a little bristle worm, or maybe a tube worm you knocked out of it's shell.
It's unlikely to be pathogenic, and it's really unlikely to be related to fluctuating pH levels.

Dave

 

[mdplavnik]

is there anything i should be on the look out for over the next few days or so? a multiple of these or ?

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7576571#post7576571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdplavnik
is there anything i should be on the look out for over the next few days or so? a multiple of these or ?

Fish behavior and health.

If I'm right (something I'd be more sure of with pics), then you probably have hundreds or thousands of these in your tank.

Dave

 

[mdplavnik]

if it is a bristle worm, is it a normal thing in an aquarium and do i need to get rid of them ?

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7576643#post7576643 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdplavnik
if it is a bristle worm, is it a normal thing in an aquarium and do i need to get rid of them ?

Yes and probably not.
Most worms in your tank are quite beneficial. They eat detritus and stir the substrate. Some bristle worms get really big, and can be more dstructive. Since this one was 10" long, it's probably not one of those (though it's always possible I'm wrong and it will become that big over the next few years).

Dave

 

[mdplavnik]

Thanks for your help...and how do i know if it's not the bristle worm? only if it is parasitic on the fish ?

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7576687#post7576687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdplavnik
how do i know if it's not the bristle worm? only if it is parasitic on the fish ?

In all honesty, I have no idea if it's a bristle worm or not, I was just throwing that out there as one possibility. There are thousands of different worms and other fauna that live in our tanks. Probably the next best thing to posting a picture would be to look at pictures of different kinds of worms and see if you find your animal.

That said, most worm-like fish parasites are internal, so you're not likely to see them flopping around in the sandbed. IMO, it's not worth nuking your tank to get something that you don't know is harmful, and that's pretty much what you'll have to do to get rid of all animals of this kind.

Dave

 

[White Tiger]

The object could be a spaghetti worm.