Worms?!?

N

nicole

Guest
One of my 2 axy's passed away last night and tonight I noticed worms all over my tank.
They are brown and mostly attatched to the glass by the sand.
I am terribly worried about Mugatu in there. SHould I be? Should I take him out?
What should I do? Help please!
 
How do I go about doing this? What do I do with my Axy?
Do I need to empty out everything and re-cycle?
I just have no clue, all I know is the works are everywhere and Im crazy worried!
 
Does ur pet store suply the water for tanks? If so buy that.

Completely clean the tank.

Ur axie should be ok in the fridge. U wont have to feed it too much and if they have bugs it'll slow them down while you do the tank.
 
I dont think my pet store sells tank water. I'll have to call and check...
Will my axy be okay in just a tupperware container in the fridge? No filtration?
 
They're probably flatworms (planaria). These show up when there's lots of waste in the tank.

How often do you clean the tank? Have you tried removing the worms?
 
I was away for a few days so the tank wasnt cleaned for that period.
How would I go about removing the worms?
There are a lot of them and theyre all in the sand. Some are swimming around but most of them are burying themselves.
Will the hurt my axy?
 
If you could get a pic (or draw one), that would be helpful.

A siphon should help in removing them.
 
I cant get a clear picture of them, nor can I see them well enough to draw a detailed picture. They just look like brown squiggly things that swim sideways and bury themselves in the sand. Which I have attempted to portray in this lovely paint drawing...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/gougeaway/worms.jpg
I bought a new vaccum and did a water change tonight. I think it got some out I also changed my filter which was filled with them. There are still alot left though. And the sand is still gross.
 
You can siphon the sand and change 20% of the water two or three times a week without causing too many problems. They look like they could be insect larvae of some sort.
 
They all appeared right after Maury died. I had been gone all that day and when i got home around midnight he had died. Im not sure how long he was in there. Could that have something to do with it?
Is syphoning the sand different than doing a water change? How so? Im new with the vaccum.
 
When you siphon the sand, you inevitably remove some water. A regular 'water change' doesn't involve vacuuming the substrate.

I usually do a water change every week, and siphon every other week.

I'm not sure where the worms came from. It may be a possibility.
 
You were right Joan, theyre insect larvae. I came home tonight and there are a bunch of gnats floating in the water. So now that I know what they are, how do I deal with this and will they hurt Mugatu?
I'd also rather not have a gnat infested house but Mugatu first...
 
They won't hurt your axolotl. The best thing to do is remove as many as possible through siphoning and spot-removal, and kill the adults (manually, don't use chemicals!). I had this problem too, and never remedied it completely.
 
unforunately there is a way of controlling the gnat problem but it causes a problem in itself and that is to introduce the gnat larvae's natural predator which are fish.
 
I need to do something, because there are now gnats ALL OVER my ceiling in my bedroom. Its really gross.
What happens with the fish?
 
Fish and axolotls don't get along. But fish (or small axolotls) can eat the larvae.
 
Round 2! They were gone for about a week and theyre back and there seems to be more than last time. Ive been doing water changes and siphoning. I just dont know what to do...theyre EVERYWHERE!! Im thinking of changing out my sand for another substrate because they like to bury themselves in the sand. I dont know...any suggestions?
 
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