Require identification of parasite

[[email protected]]

My wife and I recently got into keeping turtles. We have two
red-earred sliders under four months of age in a 40 gallon tank. We
have several toys which had all been thoroughly cleaned when put them
in the tank.

A little while ago we observed tiny worm-like creatures almost
infesting the tank. These things are clear/semi-transparent, ranging
from 5mm to 10mm (3/16" to 3/8"). They are about the thickness of
human hair. Many of them cling to the aquarium glass and move by
inching their way around. Some float in the water but are poor
swimmers.

We first noticed the creatures and completely cleaned the tank. They
reappeared within two weeks. We would like to know 1. what they're
called, 2. if they are beneficial or harmful, 3. how they are spread,
4. how to treat if necessary.

We have been feeding our turtles Nutrafin Max Turtle Gammarus Pellets.
Occasionally we have thrown in some shrimp from a frozen shrimp
(pre-cooked) ring. In addition, we have been adding waste biodegrader
into the tank but that has not seemed to work at ridding us of these
creatures.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

[Billy]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
1. what they're
> called,

Sounds like Planaria.


2. if they are beneficial or harmful,

Harmless. Some fish will eat them. Not useful info in your case. They
aren't parasitic, they survive off nutrients in the environment.In
short, they're little more than unsightly. I have had outbreaks of
them in several fish tanks, and simply stepped up maintenance and cut
down on feeding for a few weeks until they went away.


3. how they are spread,

The outbreaks are caused by a excess of nutrients in the water.


> 4. how to treat if necessary.

Change the water more often. Teach the turtles to eat outside the
water to minimize uneaten food in the water.

Couple aquarium links that you should be able to glean applicable
info from.
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/having_trouble_p2.htm
http://experts.about.com/q/3216/3866623.htm
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Ali_Planaria_Worms.html


billy

[[email protected]]

Billy pretty much has it covered but I would add though that I have 1
inch long worms in my turtle (I know - we should move this to
rec.herps) tank and I am pretty sure they are tubifex worms, again
harmless to my knowledge and the turtles eat them although I have read
you shouldn't feed turtles tubifex worms (probably because they might
be a choking hazard), I also have them in my fish tanks and I think
these tubifex worms appeared after I started feeding the fish tubifex
worm cubes (blue ribbon brand) so I think tubifex worm eggs survived
the freeze drying process. Later!

[[email protected]]

That's rec.pets.herp . Just needed to clarify about what I was saying.

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly Spake Unto All:

>reappeared within two weeks. We would like to know 1. what they're
>called, 2. if they are beneficial or harmful, 3. how they are spread,
>4. how to treat if necessary.

They are likely nematodes, catenulids or aquatic earthworms
("tubifex") feeding off leftovers and turtle-doo. They are highly
unlikely to be parasitic.

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "Billy" > Spake Unto All:

>Sounds like Planaria.

Probably not. While catenulids may be thin and long, and may occur in
aquaria, they are transparent and people generally don't notice them.
True planarians (triclad flatworms) are generally short and stocky.
Any kind of flatworm will move by a continuously gliding motion, while
oligochaetes and especially nematodes will tend to "wiggle".

They're all harmless detritus-eaters, though they can become so
numerous as to be unsightly in aquaria with much food.

[Chris Lutka]

>From a Google image search of the nematodes, it appears that we may
have those creatures. Although some websites state that they only
reach 5mm long, I know we have longer ones upwards to 10mm. It's
really tough to compare my "worms" with those images from Google since
I don't have my portable electron microscope hooked up yet. :-) I
think I'm still going to get my turtles on a diet/fast for a few days
and see what happens.

Thanks for all the comments and info!

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "Chris Lutka" > Spake Unto All:

>>From a Google image search of the nematodes, it appears that we may
>have those creatures. Although some websites state that they only
>reach 5mm long, I know we have longer ones upwards to 10mm.

Oh, nematodes can reach _8 meters_ in length (the parasitic whale
roundworm). Non-parasitic nematodes are usually very small, often
microscopic, and they're found everywhere. There's hundreds of
thousands in any given aquarium.

The easiest ways to separate nematodes from small aquatic earthworms
(also very common in aquaria), is to a) check if they're segmented
(nematodes aren't, earthworms are), and b) check how they move
(nematodes thrash around wildly, earthworms move like, um,
earthworms).

Also, if the worm's got any bristles, then it's likely an earthworm.
Very few nematodes have bristles.

A small aquatic earthworm may look something like this:
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~sjtaylor/cave/cave_olig.jpg

Whereas all nematodes you find look like this:
http://www.altgarden.com/site/pestcontrol/preditor/pics/nematode.jpg