# How to get rid of detritus worms!?



## Me_and_rai (Jan 15, 2016)

Hi there,
I have a 29 gallon heavily planted tank stocked with 6 pea puffers and 10 cherry shrimp (give or take they are food after all) I buy the cherry shrimp locally and I think in the last batch there were detritus worms in the bag and now I have an explosion of them in my tank. I know that they are harmless but I can't find any useful info anywhere on how to get rid of them.
They give me the creepy crawlies.... And it really isn't very nice to see worms everywhere when you look in the tank.
Please, does anyone have any experience with this?


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

I have some in my tank that I am establishing too. I've read it usually happens when there is an over abundance of food/nutrients. The soil I am using was used prior so it has decaying plant matter in it and I also have been throwing in flakes to help cycle the tank, so that's my guess as to why I have them. As for getting rid of them, I read that just keeping the substrate clean and free of excess food works. Puffers are really messy and leave uneaten food everywhere.

I'd start by feeding less and cleaning any leftover food. I'm surprised the puffers don't just eat the worms though. They aren't harmful to my knowledge.
Sorry I cant be much more of use. Good luck though!


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## Geoffrey (Jun 24, 2015)

Before you use any chemicals to kill them, I'd control it first using MDT's suggestions. Feed less, pick up uneaten food and maybe more deep gravel cleanings. You wouldn't want them to die off all at once since all the dead bodies would probably overwhelm your bio-filtration and kill your fish.


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## Me_and_rai (Jan 15, 2016)

A bit more info just for the record, my tank is a Walsted tank, bagged pond soil capped with gravel. It has been up and running for 5 months or so. Puffers have only lived there for a few weeks, prior to that it was a hatchet fish/ Cardinal tank sans worms! I agree the puffs are sloppy eaters, I am just surprised at how quickly the worms appeared and multiplied. I have read that it means the oxygen is low or water quality poor. It is very heavily planted though and I do a 50% water change weekly.
I certainly won't be jumping to chemical treatments, but I am interested in any strategies that others have used successfully! For now I will keep up the deep gravel cleaning and pulling the worms out as I see them. 

And the puffs seem entirely uninterested in these darn things! Too bad because it would be nice to see them as free food, you know circle of life kinda thing


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## outsider (Jan 13, 2015)

Reducing feed and it should go away.

Or

No planaria. (Pat of Canadian Aquarium sell it.) seems do the trick as well. No planaria is shrimp, fish and bio filter safe, however it may kill any snails in the tank.


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## Me_and_rai (Jan 15, 2016)

Oh well that is interesting thank you. I wouldn't have guessed that it worked on detritus worms too.


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## outsider (Jan 13, 2015)

Me_and_rai said:


> Oh well that is interesting thank you. I wouldn't have guessed that it worked on detritus worms too.


It seems work with hydra as well.

I had detritus worm in the tank before and I dosed no planara to get rid those pesky dwarf ramshorn snail and turn out detritus worm are gone as well.


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## Me_and_rai (Jan 15, 2016)

Just a little update, I have given the gavel a vac for a few days in a row and it has made a huge difference! I can't even find one worm today.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Good to hear.


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