worms with hairs

Question
i have found 4 hairy looking wormlike creatures in my tank at the water level on my baby fish net no others have been found yet except for the clear kind, what are these and how do i kill them?

Answer
Hi Kirk,

Are the worms just present in the tank, and not on the fish themselves?

If the worms are not attaching to the fish, nor affecting the fish, they do not require a treatment. The worms are most likely caused by poor water quality, and an abundance of food and nutrition (overfeeding). Perform 10% daily water changes, and vacuum the gravel using a gravel siphon (available at your local fish store, if you do not have one already). This will reduce the waste and nutrients in the tank, and will effectively 'starve' the worms. The problem should go away in 1-2 weeks if you do the rigorous water changes.

If you see more worms, and they are large enough, you can manually remove them with a net.

If I misunderstood your question, and the worms are ON the baby fish/fish themselves, they can be treated with an anti-parasitical medication, such as Mardel CopperSafe, Jungle Parasite Clear, Sera Costapur, or another type of parasite treatment available at your local fish store. Perform a 40% water change first if using meds.

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!