# white worms



## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

Hello, wondering if anyone knew what these are.
I have 2 azureus in a 29g tank and when I turn the fan and lights off for the night, the front fogs up and I can see all these little trails in the condensation in the morning. If I look close, I can see these thin white worms crawling on the front glass, not a whole lot thicker than a piece of hair. I have seen my frogs pick these off the glass before and was wondering if they were bad to have in there.
Thanks for the help.


----------



## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

exactly how small? A better description would help alot.


----------



## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

little thicker than a hair, from .25"-.5" long.


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

nematodes - check out the ID section, these have come up a couple of times. These little guys are composers, think of them as mini earthworms.

Had that happen all the time in my juvie tricolor tank (guess they were introduced in some dirt from plants in there). The little froglets LOVED them when they were out. Guess they added some variety to the diet (a snack at best, so tiny!), never had a problem with them.


----------



## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

What kero said


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

They can also be nemerteans. If they are nemerteans, they can't hurt the frogs but they will capture and consume invertebrate prey as large as ffs thus competing with the frogs for food. 

Ed


----------



## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

Thanks for the info. I was worried they might be some kind of parasite, now I can put my mind at ease.


----------



## atomic_gnar (May 11, 2005)

i too had these and i was freaking out... but now i can rest


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

With darts at least, parasites are essentially too small to be seen. If you can see an organism in your viv with your naked eyes, it's definitely not a parasite.


----------



## themann42 (Apr 12, 2005)

i have them too. my leucs love to snap them off the glass near the moss.


----------



## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

I find that most of the small worms and such that show up crawling around glass in a new tank, eventually disappear and do no damage. They could be about anything, including some sort of beetle larvae. Wipe them off the glass with a paper towel and otherwise ignore them. They are probably more beneficial than otherwise. If they were nematode parasites that would affect your frogs, you wouldn't be seeing them, as someone else suggested. If they are competing with your frogs over the fruit flies, just feed more fruit flies and make everyone happy. It would take an expert entomologist to identify most of the stuff we find creeping around in our vivariums. Slugs will often inhabit a vivarium, but they are more defined as slugs, fatter than what you describe. They may do some damage to plants; dart frogs won't eat them, but even slug infestations seem to go away or at least cycle so all you have is some chewed plant leaves. They really don't kill anything off in the long run. I've given up on baiting them with beer to get rid of them entirely, and they seem to just control themselves in the long run. 

Anytime you have a wet terrarium/vivarium situation, you are going to see a lot of life forms taking advantage of it. That's usually more healthy than not. I would be worried if I didn't see anything.


----------



## DeeVas (Jul 2, 2005)

i doubt they are harmful i see my imitators eat them right off the glass


----------

