little white worns

Question
Hi Chris!

Two weeks ago, I added some new live plants to my oranda tank. Then on that same weekend I noticed these small 1mm to 3mm little white worms on the glass. They do not attach themselves to the fishes's bodies and I've been told they do not harm the fish.

My (very good) local pet store has suggested I use this medicaition used for gill flukes and external parasites to get rid of the worms. I've managed to keep them down to a minimum, but they don't seem to go away completely.

My concern is my plants. I don't want to waste all the money I spent on those plants! I've put them in the hospital tank without any medication and they are doing fine, but now I find little worms in the hospital tank.

What should I do?

What are these little worms called because I want to do some research to know more about their life cycles?

Can I use the medication with the plants?

Answer
Hi Huong:

These are planaria and are not harmful to the fish at all. What can be harmful to them is using medication to get rid of the planaria. It burns the skin, eyes and gills of the fish and can mess up the biological balance in the system. The planaria are feeding on excess waste in your aquarium gravel. Feed less food, vacuum the gravel at least once a week while removing 25% of the water and they will slowly disappear without stress to the fish or harming the system.

They probably did come in with the plants, but they can't survive in a clean tank. Starve them out and watch for them. If you see them begin to multiply again......it is a warning signal to you that you are overfeeding. We all do it from time to time. We just have to be prepared to clean up after ourselves when we do.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://forums.about.com/ab-freshaquaria/start

My member name is ChrisR62. See You There!