Cherry shrimp and worms

[julzhull]

So, I found a dead (or so I thought) blue cherry shrimp in my nano with a few red worms coming out of the substrate around it. I knew about the worms although I'm not sure what they are. I think they came in the roots of some plants. Tubifex?

Are the worms harmful to the shrimp? They dart in the gravel when I get near them and I can only rarely suck them out when doing gravel vacs.

Back to the shrimp, not sure what was wrong with it. It was keeled over so I thought it was dead and used some tongs to pulls out. Of course when I put it in my cup to dispose I see a few legs moving. I doubt she'll make it because I probably punched her with the tongs.

 

[Mike16T]

Sorry to hear that. Hard to tell if the shrimp will make it or not. Regarding about the worms, are you sure those are tubaflex?

 

[VickiK]

Dang. Sorry to hear this!

Anxious to hear what folks say about these worms? Eww. Unless the fish eat them, I don't like the sound of that...but what do I know? (answer: not a thing)

 

[L190]

If they are black worms, I find that they will only eat shrimp that are dead. Healthy ones, the worms leave alone

 

[VickiK]

If they are black worms, I find that they will only eat shrimp that are dead. Healthy ones, the worms leave alone

@julzhull

That sounds grim.

 

[julzhull]

Sorry to hear that. Hard to tell if the shrimp will make it or not. Regarding about the worms, are you sure those are tubaflex?

I have absolutely no idea. I've been calling them detritus worms but I was googling and by looking at some pics I changed it to tubifex. Here's a pic.

 

[julzhull]

If they are black worms, I find that they will only eat shrimp that are dead. Healthy ones, the worms leave alone

I don't think they're black worms, they're long, skinny and red. I posted a pic in my previous reply.

 

[julzhull]

@julzhull

That sounds grim.

I'm hoping they just eat dead things or leftover foods. They pop down so fast when I put tongs in that hopefully they do that when the shrimp goes by.

Which does still leave me with the problem that I had a shrimp death (or near dead) and I'm not sure why. Water parameters have been fine.

 

[VickiK]

I don't think they're black worms, they're long, skinny and red. I posted a pic in my previous reply.

I had a look at that pic. Wow. Watching this thread with keen interest.

 

[julzhull]

I had a look at that pic. Wow. Watching this thread with keen interest.

I first got them in my 46g and I know they came in the roots of some plants. They didn't bother anything in there. Only saw them when I moved plants around. Then when I set up my nano I used a plant from in there and forgot about the worms.

 

[L190]

I still think they are black worms even after seeing your picture. in my experience blackworms look black when they form a ball but look red when they are by themselves. i don't think they killed your shrimp. I use to "raise" blackworms with blue dream shrimp and had no problems. I have lots of babies that have grown to adults in that tank. Most of adults I originally got in though have died due to my water being different from what they were raised in. have you checked out other water parameters like kh and gh?

 

[julzhull]

I still think they are black worms even after seeing your picture. in my experience blackworms look black when they form a ball but look red when they are by themselves. i don't think they killed your shrimp. I use to "raise" blackworms with blue dream shrimp and had no problems. I have lots of babies that have grown to adults in that tank. Most of adults I originally got in though have died due to my water being different from what they were raised in. have you checked out other water parameters like kh and gh?

I think you might be right about the worms. How did you harvest them? Or did they just live there?

I'll check on the kh and gh, things looked ok when I did a quick strip test earlier.

 

[L190]

Thin layer of gravel and I just threw them in there. I use a turkey baster to suck them out

 

[Loren]

I had some black worms that I got for free for signing up for Co-Op emails. I threw some in a tank and forgot about them. Well this tank has only guppies, pygmy corys and shrimp and they are too small to eat them. They have living there ever since and haven't bothered anything.

 

[VickiK]

I love love love worms in my garden......but in my fish tank.....? I dunno.....

 

[Ebi-sama]

if it's detritus worms, they're not dangerous. Just means you have excess food/junk going on, but usually lowers in population when too clean. but it seems in the images they're raising up vertically like eels?

 

[julzhull]

if it's detritus worms, they're not dangerous. Just means you have excess food/junk going on, but usually lowers in population when too clean. but it seems in the images they're raising up vertically like eels?

Yep, they come up like that to look for food I think. I always pull some up in my planted 46g when I pull plants out. I think they might be black worms. My betta used to like to hunt them when he was in there but he got booted out so now I guess they'll just coexist with my shrimp and hasbrosus corydoras.

 

[julzhull]

I love love love worms in my garden......but in my fish tank.....? I dunno.....

I know. I'm not entirely pleased but I guess if they aren't harmful to the shrimp then...

 

[julzhull]

I still think they are black worms even after seeing your picture. in my experience blackworms look black when they form a ball but look red when they are by themselves. i don't think they killed your shrimp. I use to "raise" blackworms with blue dream shrimp and had no problems. I have lots of babies that have grown to adults in that tank. Most of adults I originally got in though have died due to my water being different from what they were raised in. have you checked out other water parameters like kh and gh?

I did find out (after I purchased the liquid pH test kits) that my pH is quite high. I have quite a bit of coral in there to make a "river" in the middle of my black substrate. Looks like it was too much for my 13.3g tank so now I'm working on taking it out little by little, which is hard with the baby shrimp in there. I'm hoping that if I take a little bit out every few days with a couple gallons of water that it won't irritate the shrimp too much. Does that sound like a good plan @Mike16T ?

 

[Mike16T]

I did find out (after I purchased the liquid pH test kits) that my pH is quite high. I have quite a bit of coral in there to make a "river" in the middle of my black substrate. Looks like it was too much for my 13.3g tank so now I'm working on taking it out little by little, which is hard with the baby shrimp in there. I'm hoping that if I take a little bit out every few days with a couple gallons of water that it won't irritate the shrimp too much. Does that sound like a good plan @Mike16T ?

Sounds good to me.. =)
Do it little by little. Let the shrimps adjust and make sure that they get successful molting before you do another adjustments.