Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My system was stocked with Blue Tilapia in Aug 2014 and I've had no issues since then. However in the last few weeks I've noticed a Ammonium(1 ppm) spike and Nitrate spike (40ppm) and a PH crash.

I just noticed that the corner where my fish tank flows into the grow bed had a clear slime of some sort. I got a small shovel and scooped up the corner to clean it out. When I looked closer at the hydroton and slime I saw there were thousands of white worms crawling all over everything!!!!!!

The first thing that came to mind was "PINWORMS" I looked it up and sure enough that's what they are!!!! WFT???? I can't find anything on the web about fixing this issue.

What do I do? how do you get rid of these nasty creatures and prevent them from infecting my family?

I have doubts that these are actual pin worms but I suppose it's possible, got any close up pictures? Based on the ammonia spike you were probably getting an accumulation of food and these guys were helping you break it down. Odd's are they are nematodes and that the one you found isn't parasitic.

http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/healthdisease/122-worms-in-tank.html

I feel a little better since the second pic is what they look like, but it's still gross as hell!
I haven't taken a slide of them yet, but If I can take a picture I will.


Can anyone recommend a good PC powered microscope that's inexpensive?

Not me but I'll be curious to see if anyone knows of one