Tiny worms in my tank ...

[Aaron]

Hello everyone, i have just set up a 40 gallon planted tank (my plants rapidly outgrew the 10 gallon) and everything was going good, but I am noticing a parasite of some kind in the tank now. On certain plants, there are little worm type things, ranging from 1 cm - 1 inch long, they are little hollow tubes, with little tiny worms sticking out of them.

I cannot find any information on the internet about these, as I don't really know what they are.

There are no fish in the tank, and it's only been set-up for about 1 - 2 weeks now. The light is about 3.2 wpg, and I have not tested any of the other conditions, as there are no fish and im not really that concerned for the plants as they seem to be doing fine. The temp is about 76*F.

What can I do to rid the tank of these? I originally though they were algae, as after about 4 - 5 days they seem to die off and are easily removed from leaves by the flow of water itself.

PS - They are only on certain plants, and I can post pics if clarification of the parasite I'm talking about is needed.

Any help on eleminating these is helpful!

Cheers.

[BigA]

Maybe a hydra? Usually they occur in very very clean tanks.

http://naturalaquariums.com/inverts/hydra.html

[Aaron]

They are not those, but I will post some pictures so that everyone can see. Thanks for your fast reply though I am just trying to get the right balance of light/nutrients in the tank, so it may be a few more weeks until it is up and running properly

[syb65]

i think i know what you're talking about. my cousin has them in his discus tank, i told him not to worry about it, the discus will probably eat them up anyways. i don't think they cause any harm.