Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok I have some strange worms growing under the water in all my tanks except for the fish tank that has fish in it. I noticed these a few weeks back and thought it was just clay settling out of the water. However, today as I moved a clay pot to the fish tank I noticed these clay deposits on the pot and as I wiped some off I saw that there are little red worms in each of the clay 'spots'. Any idea what the heck these are?

The foggy picture is a picture through the water at the bottom of my sump.

How do the worms move? stretch-n-pull along or squiggly or what?
How long are they?
Do they seem to have mouth-parts or suckers or something? One end looks larger. I can see that they are segmented....

...researching...

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/ccn/info/Scie ... S/xxv.html

I'm going to go with some sort of tubifex. Probably not harmful. Possible helpful as an indicator of water quality.

Thanks Janet! They do not seem to try to move at all. I will try to get a better picture tomorrow. Its almost like they are in a clay sediment cocoon.

I think Bio-farmer had some similar pictures last year, maybe search for that?

Yep - we have another thread on this. I have them too. Nothing to worry about.

Dan you have a common chironomid larvae. I often see them in tremendous numbers in a freshly drained pond.

Fish love eating them if able (large enough). Thats why they are not in your FT. I wouldn't think they should cause too much concern in your system. If they become a problem, put small mesh screen or cloth over your tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUoXYWbsrtQ

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes ... midges.htm

http://www.lawestvector.org/chironomid_midges.htm

http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversi ... idges.html

Here is an article on how to grow them as food for fish http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Live%20Food ... 0Worms.htm

yeah they're blood worms. fish absolutely love them as a snack. if you can breed them up they are a good reward for you fish.

I seem to have them too. I have also seen those little sedement patterns too. I also have not noticed them where the fish can get at them, only in places the fish can't reach.

Maybe you have another income producer!!!!!! I use to pay for these things to feed my exotic tropical freshwater eels because that was the only thing they would eat. Buy some clear 1 oz. souffle cups, with lids, from your local Smart and Final, Costco, or equivilent in your area and market them to the aquarium people.

Thanks for all the input! To grow them I would need to add very find organic matter.. Hmmm Ground fish flakes? More clay.. Oh well, as long as they are not a danger then I will leave them alone to see what happens. Most likely they will get pumped into the gravel Ill give them to the fishies if I can

One thing, with these worms, that you do have to watch for, is when they die, they die en mass and make a huge stinking mess because they literally fall apart and turn into a putrid cloud that floats and mixes with the water and quickly deprives the fish of oxygen, so be aware of that if you treat the tanks with salt or anything else that may affect the worms.

Thats good to know ahead of time! I think I will just get in and step on them all now before they get over populated.

Glad you posted about these, I have noticed them, the casings? in my fish tank. I thought they were just from algea. My fish tank has taken on a fishie smell as of late, could be a result of the mass dieing? The fish seem fine and all paramaters are good.
Are they at all parasitic?
I have seen a few up close and they move about like a mossie larva. A bit to small for the perch to bother with I think, the guppies would love em though.