Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I have a problem. I have these strange, tiny, micro sized worm like things swimming around in my RES's tank. One of them is bigger and red in color...I always change out the water, but not the rocks on the bottom. However, I think I do a pretty good job of cleaning everything in the tank and changing the filter.

What are these things, are they safe to the turtle, how do I get rid of them? The turtle is about 5 years old. I've never seen these things before. He's alone in the tank with no other creatures and it's a 30 gallon tank with a basking rock and UVA/UVB light.

Help!

Thx!!

there've been several posts on this subject. Look around on the message boards and you'll find some advice! good luck!

OMG I KNOW WHAT UR TALKING ABOUT!! they re these little brownish worms that are about 1 or 2 mm long and they don t really SWIM, more like whip around their bodies. . .they re disgusting!!!! first, check if they re mosquito larva. look up some pics n compare. if they are, just get a bunch of guppise and put em in the tank, they ll eat em all up. if they re not mosquito larvae. . is ur turtle wild caught? becuase a couple of years back, i put some water snails in my tank from a nearby pond and the next day, , ,those micro worms were whipping around in my tank!!! horrible!!!! i dont know how to get rid of them. . quarantine ur turtle, observe, if more worms appear, get some medication from the vet n treat it. or. .if u have a pond, put the turtle in the pond and let it live there.