Detritus Worms

Hi all,

I'm getting very excited, as my tank appears to be getting close to completing the cycling process (fishless), but, to my dismay, I spottd a load of tiny, wriggling white worms on the glass last Friday.  A bit of research seems to indicate that they are detritus worms, as I can't see any sort of triangular head shape.  The recommendation was to clean the substrate and do a water change.  So, last weekend, I emptied the tank right down to the substrate, and gave all the sand a good poking before syphoning it to remove any worms that were loitering in there and any trapped air.  I gave the glass a good wipe down, then refilled and conditioned the water, and carried on with the cycling process.

However, after a day or so, I've started to see the worms in increasing numbers again (along, it would seem, with the world's teeniest snail!).  So, is there anything else that I can do to get rid of them?  Wondered if there was some sort of chemical treatment that it might be safe to do while the tank is fishless, as obviously, I'll be doing a massive water change before adding fish?

When I get fish (cherry barbs to start with), will they help to sort the problem?  If they do, could this cause an overfeeding issue?

Those tiny little white worms are not a problem in a tank, they just make it look messy. Once you have fish, they should not be a problem provided you don't overfeed the fish. Most people call these worms planaria, but a member on here said that they are actually detritus worms.
I would avoid adding anything to kill these worms. I found out the hard way that some types of medicine linger for a long time in tanks - I killed some nerite snails by putting them back in the tank too soon after medicating 

If I remember correctly, this is a 125 litre tank? Provided it has a 80 x 30 cm footprint, that is the minimum for dwarf chain loaches.




Incidentally, Botia sidthimunki is a very old name for them. They were Botia, then Yasuhikotakia, now they're Ambastaia sidthimunki    Though Seriously Fish does still find them under Botia.

Don't get your hopes up with the floating plants @Dr Um because they won't bring your nitrates down drastically.
I use the API test kit, and when I test tank nitrates, and compare the colour to a tap water sample, the tank sample colour is slightly lighter than the tap water sample, but not enough to take it down to 20ppm, for example. However, I have found that the floating plants do help, and stops the nitrates getting any higher.
If you have concerns about the cories, the answer (in my very limited experience) is to use a mix of tap water and RO water to recreate the water parameters that the fish need.
Saying that, please keep in mind that a lot of fish that have been commercially bred for a considerable amount of time have become more tolerant of a wider range of water conditions, but tolerant is not the same as the fish thriving. It is quite a complicated and controversial topic, that I don't plan to go into here.
However, I will say that my tap water is relatively hard, with high nitrates, and I have peppered cories in my temperate tank, and panda cories in my betta tank. Both groups appear to be doing well, and have reproduced.
Speaking to staff at my independent LFS, and their main suppliers (who also breed certain fish) have harder water than we do here.
I use a mix of RO and tap water in my river tank because at least one species of fish in that tank is wild caught, as far as I know (another controversial topic that I'm skirting around and moonwalking away from).
So, apologies for the rambling response, but I just wanted to make sure that you would know that floating plants are not a miracle "cure" for your nitrates, but will help, and that your water conditions will not necessarily keep you from keeping the cories that you want, but you may just want to ask your LFS where they have come from, the conditions that they have been kept in, etc (also bearing in mind that it is almost certain that your LFS has the same water conditions that you have at home).
Keep us posted on your progress. 

Alfagrog, specially selected lava rock, and other high porosity filter medias will grow anaerobic bacteria in the filter.  Anaerobic bacteria eat nitrates so will help the tank overall.  Unlike the other bacteria in your filter the anaerobic type can take up to six months to establish.

I have a large bag in my Amazon sump filter as the apistos and panaques prefer high quality water so I try and keep nitrates low.

I have 20 litres of Alphagrog on one side of my sump, it is fully submerged and at the bottom of that media stack so the bio filtration above it should also be consuming oxygen which should help the anaerobic bacteria. The tank has been running for just over a year now, but I'm not sure about its abilities to deal with Nitrates. It may be having an effect but it was not until the algae scrubber established and I added plants to the sump that I saw a dip in weekly nitrate production. I'm sure its a good and cost effective media and it certainly wont be coming out of the sump, but I am fairly sure it wont be a magic bullet.
I store water for the next change in a wheely bin to condition it, its just possible that a planted water store with Alphagrog in the bottom might help and it would be easy to measure any Nitrate reduction over a week given there wont be any additional Nitrogen inputs (providing its not a Chloramide treated water source)
I would offer to run a test by swapping out my sump Alphagrog but we don't have Nitrates in our supply.

I would offer to run a test by swapping out my sump Alphagrog but we don't have Nitrates in our supply.

@Andy The Minion  Yeah, yeah, rub it in why don't you. 
Thanks for the information and the offer though.

@Matt I have heard of the Hydra products. One of the guys I know at MA has a Hydra Stream in line with his external filter on his tank and said it reduce tank maintenance, so I spent some time having a look for more information. I wasn't completely convinced that adding one to my set up would help. The general feedback seemed to be that they were good as filters, but didn't help improve water quality if there was already enough filtration.
I guess one way to solve the problem of the nitrate in the tap water is to move to an area with low nitrates. 
I think I'll probably just be stick with the water changes and the plants for now, and the RO mix in the river tank. 

I have heard of the Hydra products. One of the guys I know at MA has a Hydra Stream in line with his external filter on his tank and said it reduce tank maintenance

Just a comment to say that using something to lower tap nitrate won't reduce the need for tank maintenance as those of us who have low tap nitrate will tell you  The fish still poo, bits of plant still die, the fish still excrete chemicals and secrete hormones, all of which have to be removed 

The alfagrog and other high porous material have reduced my nitrates a little but my tap nitrates are also not high to begin with.  It's not something that will fix your tank straight away as you'll need to experiment with flow and quantity to get the most out of it and as such is best used in either a second external filter inline with your main filter or a sump.  Still, a little in a normal filter and plants will help a bit.  I haven't had it running long enough to fully 'tune' it yet.

Pfk magazine did a review of the Hydra 30 in 2016 (Nathan Hill) and he confirms my initial thoughts looking at the page linked.  Where is the info on how it actually works?  If anything claims great new tech that will allow much better ability (in all things not just aquariums) I want a decent explanation.