Freshwater Bristleworms Killing my Loaches? Picture Included
Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 10:45 pm
Lately I've had some unexplained fish deaths in my 55 Gallon tank - too many just to be coincidence. It started out with just a few Kuhlis dying here and there, and I figured since they were mostly the same age that perhaps they had come to the end of the line. The bodies had an odd look, and seemed to be white, wrinkled, and shriveled, almost as if they had nothing left inside. I work in a pet store and have seen many dead fish, so normally they don't bother me, but these were quite frankly disgusting. They could not have been dead longer than part of a day, since I check the tanks daily.
But like I said, I didn't think much of it at first, chalking it up to old age or perhaps something bacterial that I hadn't figured out. No new fish had been added to the tank in over a year, and the fish dwelling in the upper strata seemed to be largely unaffected.
The other day I found a Schistura dead, and once again, thought that perhaps the fighting between the two Schistura I have in the tank had finally come to a head. It was strange, though, because I noticed some small, regular wounds in its underside.
Then today, as I was cleaning the gravel, I saw something that didn't belong. It really gave me the willies because I wasn't expecting it: I had sucked up some kind of funny looking worm.
I got to digging around in the tank and found a few more. They are up to three inches long, red in colour, and have bristles down both sides. On one end, the bristles seem to be more prominent, and look as though they may be barbed. They move in a snakelike manner, slithering in the water and then retreating to the gravel. Honestly they look like something out of a horror film. I have caught a few of these and preserved them in a jar of isopropyl alcohol, hoping to find out more about them.
I now think I may have found a culprit for all these fish deaths. Here is a picture of them:
Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks:)
But like I said, I didn't think much of it at first, chalking it up to old age or perhaps something bacterial that I hadn't figured out. No new fish had been added to the tank in over a year, and the fish dwelling in the upper strata seemed to be largely unaffected.
The other day I found a Schistura dead, and once again, thought that perhaps the fighting between the two Schistura I have in the tank had finally come to a head. It was strange, though, because I noticed some small, regular wounds in its underside.
Then today, as I was cleaning the gravel, I saw something that didn't belong. It really gave me the willies because I wasn't expecting it: I had sucked up some kind of funny looking worm.
I got to digging around in the tank and found a few more. They are up to three inches long, red in colour, and have bristles down both sides. On one end, the bristles seem to be more prominent, and look as though they may be barbed. They move in a snakelike manner, slithering in the water and then retreating to the gravel. Honestly they look like something out of a horror film. I have caught a few of these and preserved them in a jar of isopropyl alcohol, hoping to find out more about them.
I now think I may have found a culprit for all these fish deaths. Here is a picture of them:
Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks:)