Ammonia 0

Nitrites 0

PH 7.6 (always)

Nitrates around 15 ppm

29 gallon aquarium running over 1.5 yrs

Eclipse filtration

Minimum of 1 40-50% water change per week

No water additives or meds

1 black moor 5 inch body (no new fish)

Feed Pro-gold

White spots (4) that turned cottony

Well water (no chloramines)

Ok, I am treating my black moor in a QT tank at the moment. So his 29 gallon has been vacant for 5 days. I went to do a water change on the 29 before returning him back to it from the QT and I find these red worms. I am wondering what they are, where they came from, and if they will hurt him. I have not returned him back to the tank yet because I'm worried about what these worms could be. They are about 3/8 " long. Here's a picture of 2 of them (they were in the filter and floating in the tank water)...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/Sil...ly/PICT0374.jpg

Thanks for any advice you can offer me!

ewwwwwww!

I don't know what those are for sure, but I bet the reason you haven't seen them before is that your fish was eating those worms! Doesn't look like any kind of parasite I've seen. Some type of insect must have layed eggs in your tank somehow--it happens.

They look kind of like blood worms (mosquito larva), but I'm not sure.

Laura

That's a very clear pic of the worms wow I found something similar in my tank one day, red worms (but looks longer than yours, more like reddish blackworms (?)). The consensus was that it's probably hatched eggs from the frozen bloodworms I've been feeding them, and it's harmless, fish will just eat them, and they reduce after several gravel siphonings if you want. Do you feed bloodworms to your fish? If not....it could be just from a mossie as starsmom said

No kat, I don't feed blood worms. I have only ever fed him Pro-gold, medi-gold, occasional peas, and some lettuce way back. In the last month he has only had Pro-gold. I was wondering if it's at all possible that an egg in the Pro-gold hatched or something?

By the way starsmom, that is a beautiful horse. I have horses too!

I hope it's just a mosquito larvae or something, I put him back in there today. I'm figuring whatever it is before it ever got to this "stage" he had eaten it. So hopefully it hasn't/won't hurt him *crosses fingers*.

Thanks kat and starsmom for the replies