Little worms things swimming in tank. Must kill. 10 points?

Question

O.K. I have little worms about 1cm long swimming in my tank. The filter works great and the water quality is awsome. The guy at the petshop said I had to put salt in. The thing is it is tropical setup with my asian arowana(golden arowana) that will soon join my silver aro in the 5000gallon pond. I put some anti bacterial substances in and put the airpump on max. They seem to be disappearing. Please advice me to what to do and if you can please name the worm thing. Oh yeah, is a rainbow snakehead legal in south africa! 10 Points. You can get another 10 points if you search for my question on the channa bleheri

Answer 1

if they squirm/squiggle as they swim then they might be the same ones i had. i think they some type of larvae. but i dont think they are harmful to the fish. the fish actually might enjoy them as a treat.

good luck

Answer 2

I checked google for like 20 minutes but I still haven't found out if snakeheads are legal in south africa. Im soo sorry. I'll keep looking and if I find anything I'll tell you. Btw, I wouldn't keep snakeheads in a pond, they can walk out of it. I have a few ideas about the worms. Heres some info about them..

Planaria are flatworms, related to flukes and tapeworms. They are quite small, and if examined closely have eyespots as well as protrusions from the sides of their heads. Although they do not harm fish, they love to feast on eggs, and therefore are dangerous if breeding egglaying fish. Even though Planaria do not harm fish, they are an indicator that the aquarium has a problem. They require a food source, which means there must be excess food wastes in the tank to support them. If you have Planaria it's time to give your aquarium a thorough cleaning. Pay particular attention to the substrate, as that's usually where they find their food. Make sure there are no dead plants, or other wastes in the tank. You should also take a hard look at how much you are feeding your fish. Usually the excess waste the Planaria are living on is the result of overfeeding your fish. Reduce the amount you feed your fish, as well as the frequency of feedings. Finally, once you've cleaned things up, be sure to continue with regular maintenance and water changes. A clean tank is the best defense against becoming overrun with Planaria.

These may actually be a relative of a bloodworm. Bloodworms and lighter colored relatives belong to the family Diptera (true flies) although the larvae are aquatic just like in mosquitos. The adults lay eggs on the water's surface or in the filter, and when they hatch, it looks like you have an infestation of small worms. "Bloodworms" just refers to any of the family where the larvae are red rather than whitish.

The could also be nematodes. These are small roundworms which are differentiated from other worms like earthowrms because they don't have segmented bodies (they're smooth rather than having "bands" around them). Although some nematodes can be parasites, if there's large enough for you to see them, they wouldn't be one of these types.

You don't have to read all of it. Just clean your water and gravel alot.

Answer 3

You can get feshwater salt & its perfectly safe for all tropical freshwater fish. Also it could be a parasite & if that's the case then there are treatments you can get that don't even bother your nitrates. Or you can buy a different fish that would find them to be yummy & then let nature take its course. As far as identifying them that is to hard to know without a picture.