Habitat - Indoor :: Red Worms *UPDATE*

[SpotsMama]

Spot lived outside in a pond for several months this summer and when I brought him in for the winter about a month ago I think he brought some passengers. I found some little, slim red worms in the aquarium. Currently some largish minnows are living in the aquarium with Spot, and between them and Spot they keep things pretty clean and I haven't seen any of those creepy red worms lately. That is, until I cleaned the filter the other night.....

I wouldn't say the filter was teaming with red worms but there was definitely a presence.

I read that the red worms are blood worms, the larvae of a fly, and that they aren't harmful and are actually a good source of food for the aquatic inhabitants.

My question is this: If they are fly larvae, and I don't have flies in my house, then where are they coming from? I can understand the first generation coming in on Spot's shell, but what about the new ones? Are they maybe coming from his pellets?

[steve]

Could they be parasitic? I would try to get a macro shot of them and look around to be sure what they are.

[SpotsMama]

Well I read everything I could find on the subject with quick googles and the worms must be either bloodworms or a type of nematode - most likely the later. If nematodes they probably came in with the feeder fish or my plants. If I'm right they aren't harmful but I should keep an eye open to make sure they aren't multiplying geometrically. If the nutrient level gets too "rich" their populations will explode and I'll need to do something. I found a place that mentioned a way to treat the tank to kill them but I don't think I'll do that unless they get more numerous or the tank inhabitants get sick.

Nobody sees them in the filter but me so they aren't grossing anybody out (but me and I can take it).

They would be very difficult to photograph as they are very tiny and wiggly.

[SpotsMama]

UPDATE:

I've now cleaned the filter three times. The first time, as I said, there were tons of gross little red worms in it. The second time, there was one - yes, one - detectable red worm. Yesterday, there were NO red worms!! What a relief!

I think the worms were, after all, fly larvae and not nematodes. They came into the aquarium from outside on Spot (UGH) and the minnows that I brought in. They apparently have a pretty long life cycle, but eventually all the larvae died/were eaten, and since there weren't any more flies laying eggs, no more worms!!