In May, my 15 yr old & I started a fish pond in an unused hottub in our deck. We have pond comets, snails, lilies, duck weed, hyacynths, hearts & water clover. While the plants never bloomed they flourished greedily. The fish grew from aprox 2" to 6". All was fine. We replaced 1/2 the water every week and cleaned the fountain/filter media weekly. Water was clear testing was all within appropriate limts. 4weeks ago we went to clean the foam and carbon filter media and discovered it was totally imbedded with worms. From the internet, we identified them as spirostomum. However, we cannot find how to get rid of them. The fish & snails all seem healthy, but I want to bring in the plants & fish for the winter and I don't want to bring in the worms. How do I get rid of them? And can anyone tell me how we got them? We never added anything new since the beginning.
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Pond Worms Please Help
Replies (1)
I thought spirostomum were only seen with the use of a microscope '? hmmmmmmmmmm.... I always find those small dark brown or red worms known as BLOOD worms in the filter material of the bio filter. They are the worm state of a type of midge that lays eggs in the water. They only seem to grow in numbers in the bio filters -- away from the hungry mouths of koi and goldies 
I freaked the first time I saw them ! haha I thought they surely were some kind of blood sucking parasite worm.
--my ponds--
