Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, this may sound very strange but here my story.....

I turned off my filter 2 days ago because it was making weird noises and I was planning to fix it this weekend. I went up there today to my bedroom to clean all my cages when I noticed these long, slender white worms, about half and inch long and there were like 40 of them squirming along the front of my cage. I haven't inspected the rest of my cage because I rushed downstairs to post this message. Now I'm no idiot with reptiles. I've had longer periods of time without a filter and nothing like this has ever happened. The cage is not even really dirty at all!!!!! HELP!!!!!

J.L.

Can't tell from the brief description, but they could be non-parasitic flatworms that are common in aquarium situations. If they are really long, they could be roundworms and they may have come from your turtles. Do the have a triangular head with two small "eyes"? If they are round worms, you can have your turtles dewormed with injectable tramisol. Do not use Ivermectin, as it has caused problems with turtles.

They are very tiny and barely noticable...I cleanded the cage and don't really see them anymore. They started disappearing when I turned the filter back on. My turtles all seem healthy. One question though: my new little albino RES floats a lot. Like, whenever I check on him if he isn't basking or eating. He's always done this. He sometimes moves his arms along but usually just floats with his his sticking out of the water, and usually with his arms and legs tucked in close to him. He seems perfectly healthy, he eats, swims, and basks normally. Is that normal or not...should I be concerned?

J.L.

my turtle's tank did this too! i moved his tank and it seemed like those nasty white worms grew over night. i thought that he had worms at first but he acted normal. so i just washed the tank with hot water and scrubbed the sides and bottom of the tank and cleaned all his gravel and filters and i haven't had the problem since! my turtle also floats alot i think he's just relaxing sometimes, you know just floating with the current that his filters make!! i hope that this helps, it might not.

Thank you so much, that is very helpful. I've seen no more worms...well, ALIVE ones at least in the tank, so I think that may not be a problem anymore! = )

J.L.