Something untoward in the tank?

Today, I saw some sort of worm in the divided tank. It was the size and shape of the ones that live up dogs' bottoms, except it had a reddish hue at the centre. I thought it was a bit of uneaten bloodworm at first, but it floated over to the moss ball and proceeded to burrow into it and slip inside!!! Anybody know what it could be?

Also, there seem to be some sort of eggs in there. At first I though the green laser corys might have spawned, but my boyfriend said they definitely weren't cory eggs as his are always spawning. The eggs are square-looking, about 2mm across and have a white dot in the centre of clear jelly, and are individually deposited on the roots of an anubias as well as a few up the corner of the glass. Could they possibly be from my assassin snail? I got it about a week ago so it could have been holding eggs/storing sperm. They're only in one section, which just contains the snail, a male betta and two corys.

I have no idea KJ. You know more than I do. Were you able to remove the worm? Do you think the worm came with the moss ball? I know I'd be scared more witless than I already am! Myself, I think I'd be tempted to remove the moss ball and replace it.

I'm speculating that those very well could be snail eggs since they are confined to the same section where the snail is.

In any event someone will know and I wish safe wellness!

Eugh, sounds freaky! I wish I could help but I have no idea! Could it be some kind of leech?

Blargh, I hope not, I dislike leeches intensely.

I have no idea where the worm might have come from, the tank is heavily planted with plants from various sources and it's the divided tank so the water flows through all sections. Actually, I would say the moss ball is probably the least likely source of the worm, as it came from my boyfriend's community tank where it had been for a couple of years and no plants or fish had been added for months.

Hmm, maybe I will have baby assassin snails and will be giving them away to you all soon then! In the meantime it looks like I will have to keep an eye out to make sure the worm is not parasitic, or mulitplying. I don't mind it being there if it's just a nematode or something, hopefully it's not anything more sinister.

Perhaps do a google search and see if you can find a picture of the worm and go from there to find out more info about it?

is it planaria? little worms that come from overfeeding?
ok after reading your thread properly I don't think it is, hopefully someone can sort it out for you x

No it's definitely not planaria, the worm was larger. I haven't seen it since, hopefully it's not anything to worry about.

I hope so too!

A roundworm? But I cant see how it may have got in their..

Well considering my dog is wormed and I don't have worms I doubt that :P

Have you tried gently picking through the moss ball to see if you can find and remove it? Just trying to be of assistance. Hopefully its a loner whatever it is.

Contaminated water and soil also carry roundworm eggs..

If it's small and wriggly enough the betta might eat it

I was thinking that... Citizen Fish eyed it suspiciously as it went past! I've not seen it at all since, so hopefully it was a loner. I'm pretty sure roundworm need to be inside a warm body to hatch, and I have a synthetic gravel substrate (Unipac black) and only conditioned tapwater has gone in.

The only new resident recently was an assassin snail but it seems to be very healthy, so I don't think it was carrying a parasite. It's a mystery! If the worm popped out again I think it might have been gobbled up by now anyway.

Hi Kally.

It sounds like it could be tubifex. I have no idea how, but sometimes I find these in my tank and I've never fed them to my fish EVER. They're harmless and most bettas will just eat them, as they're considered live food. Tubifex have some red in them. I find them mostly in my fry tanks as there's quite alot of food in there. They've never harmed any of my fish and I just hoover them up when I'm siphoning. I found out about them from this article:

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No idea about the eggs though, can only assume they're from the snail, sounds a bit gross though LOL.

Jess x

OMG tubifex look totally gross i don't think i could face feeding them to fish!

Blargh, the worst is when they are rolling around in a ball in the plastic bags... I've never fed them.

Still no worm updates... I thought I had caught it when I did a water change, but it turned out to be a bit of root in the bucket, the worm remains at large.

As long as it stays a loner. Ones more than enough! Maybe eaten by now.