White worms on crawdads claws

Question
I have a 20 gal. tank with 2 crawdads.One is a redish brown and the other is a dark grey.The redish one has these small white worms on both of its claws.The other dose not.I have seperated them and put them in smaller tanks untill i know what to do.I have cleaned the other tank but what should i do about the worms.Are the harmfull to the crawdads?What should i do to get rid of them?I have feed them raw meat a few times.I read that they like that kind of stuff,but havent since i saw the worms.I think that may be the reason of the worms.Any info. would be great,and what would you suggest i feed them.Also do you know of any web sites that would tell me more on caring,feeding,and there habbits.
             Thanks for your time
                            Brady...

Answer
Hi Brady;

While my experience is mostly in fish and not crawdads, I think I know what they are. They sound like planaria. They exist in tanks that have dirty gravel. They are harmless to fish and crawdads and such, but they are a sign that the gravel needs to be cleaned and the crawdads are being overfed. I feed too much from time to time too. I just have to realize it and clean up my mistake. It is possible that the planaria are feeding on tiny bits of food left on the claws of only the one. Maybe it has a more rough surface for things to collect on and the planaria is getting the junk out of them. Who knows? They're weird little creatures.

In a sense, planaria are a good thing. They help warn us when we are overfeeding and they consume a lot of extra food. The bad part is that the extra food it causing pollution in the tank. The planaria cause waste of their own too, and if there is a sudden die-off of them, the whole tank will become foul from their bodies decaying. Yuck!

Do some cleaning over a period of time, cut back on how much food you feed and they will slowly disappear. Remove 25% of the water every few days while vacuuming the gravel. They live mostly in the gravel and you will see more of them for a while as you clean it.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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