Habitat - Outdoor :: Strange tiny brown worms all over my enclosure

[alisonk]

Hi -

I had this happen a few weeks ago, and again this week...I'm getting all these tiny brown worm like things appear all over my out door (but under cover) 25 gallon enclosure. They appear all over the bottom, on the river stones I have, and also all over the inside of my canister filter. It looks like some sort of parasite. Is this something to be concerned about and how do I get rid of it?

Both times I have just taken out all the water, scrubbed the stones and filter parts with white vinegar, and the inside of the tank, and put everything back. The worms come off easily, but they came back, so I guess there is something left to breed again.

Thanks!

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Hmm, any chance you can get a photo? It could be a couple things. There are aot of insects that lay their larva in the water which spend their life there till they grow into adults.

[alisonk]

Ok, sorry for late reply, I waited a week before my next tank clean, and they were back, so I managed to snap a few pictures.
You can see the little squiggly things attached to the rocks and all over the inside of my filter. They are tiny, about half an inch long each. They come off easily if I spray all the things with a hose...but they keep coming back. If any one can ID them, and let me know if there is a way to remove them, I would be grateful. Also, are they harmful to the turtle? I have looked on the turtle's shell (he is still young - only 2 inches long), but I don't see evidence that he has any on him.

Thanks!

[steve]

Probably not harmful, though I would look into a larger enclosure and maybe some fish to keep the worm population down.

[annar]

Are you sure they're worms? I only ask, because that looks an awful lot like a form of algae I once kept getting in an old tank. It would get into the filter and everything, so even when I thought it was gone, there was enough there to reproduce. It took an entire breakdown of the tank and filter and scrubbing everything with a diluted bleach mixture to finally get rid of it.

[alisonk]

Hi, thanks for replying!

May be algae...I'm not sure. I've been thinking of bleaching everything, but then I'd have to start with new media in the filter, I guess. So far they are not back after that last clean...I'm looking out for them. I didn't know algae could look like worms, maybe I'll look at some under a magnifying glass next time.

Our turtle is still small, (2 inches)...but I've been planning on moving him to a bigger tank.

Thanks!