A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Tiny Red Pond Worms

I have these little teeny tiny worms in my pond.

(This picture is a little larger than actual size)


There are gazillions of them in my filter when I clean it out.
They are much redder than they look in this picture.


What are they?
Are they BAD?
Do I need to get rid of them?
HOW???

(They freak me out when I see all of them in the filters...)

ewwwwwwwwwww - no idea Cindy, but they would freak me out too!!! :p

What really freaks me out is while syphoning water out of my pond (started the syphon by sucking on the end of the hose...) I swallowed a bunch of water!

That is just GROSS! :p

Oh cindy, yuck! Just think of it as extra protein!

But it might be a good thing that you have them......

red worms in filter

Not only are they a delicacy, but they are found in clean ponds...so your pond must be in great shape!

When I went to walmart I found a container of them for sale! So then I had to tell mom about this post of yours. I don't even have to say Cindy, one of the other hostesses anymore...Just Cindy this, and Cindy that...

Cindy~ Loz is totally correct! Midge flies/blood worms are good. Your water must be in good shape.

Well.....talk about learning the hard way!

Awhile back I started a topic when I thought something was bad wrong with my fish...and turns out they were just doing the wild thang!


Now I was about ready to drain the pond to get rid of those worms...and turns out they are good.


To be continued.....I'm sure!

Bloodworms do like clean water; my uncle had them in his aerator once (gross!) (Chlorine killed them, but that was in drinking water, not a pond!)

Are they something we want in a pond though? Will the fish eat them all?

cookinmom~ Blood worms are not bad for the pond. It is just one of the things you live with. My fish eat them and the ones in the filter just help clean the filter. I sure wouldn't want them in my drinking water but in the pond they are no problem. They don't bite or cause any harm.
Donna

That's good to know... I (almost) hope I have some in my pond someday!

Hi everyone...my husband stared a pond a few weeks ago, he intended to finish a week ago but life interfered and its not done, kids were looking into the water and noticed the same little red worms, I guessed these were blood worms right away because i use to work for a pet store where we sold them, and here i thought since the water has not been filtered and just sitting that it would be not a good place for critters like this BUT we also have these other worms, fish like with lots of legs, my youngest said they reminded her of tadpoles but they are not that, I thought maybe the crows left bugs behind after taking a bird bath but these things swim away like fish and look like centipedes sort of and they hang in the water like little black nothings till you go near them then they scoot - could they be mosquito larva? ...not sure what that would look like

That what it sounds like.
Scroll down on this page . There's some photos.

And welcome to the forum!

Cindy

If you get some mosquito fish like I did they eat all the mosquito larvae.....they're cool little fish!

I have a fountain and it was starting to look like it was getting algae. (green) I was about to go to get something that would get rid of the algae, when one day I noticed the green was gone. And in its place were these little red squigglers. All I know is they cleaned out my fountain and are welcome anytime! Now I have a name for them. I should have mentioned. It is a solar powered fountain, so it only runs when the sun is on the solar panel. Thus, there are times that the water is not running. Do you think I should put something in it to take care of any mesquito (SP) larva?? If so, what?? Thanks, Sue

Sue, my pond has a solar fountain in it....and around 6pm each day it quits working from the shade hitting it.

That's why I got the mosquito fish....to control the larvae......I bought them on ebay...A bag of 10 of them, they shipped from OR and I'm in MD so they came across country USPS priority mail and only 2 of them didn't make it. Which was okay with me because they mate like crazy.

They're neat little fish because they stay up near the surface almost all day, so when I can't see my goldfish I can at least watch them swimming around.

hello all. my husband and i just recently put in a new pond in our front yard. we have had it now for about 2 months. we have koi and gold fish in it. we have had a terrible time with green water and algea, we have tried everything to keep it clear but no luck yet. any suggestions. we do have hard water but someone told us that the barley.peat extract would work over night but still no luck. today my husband cleaned the filter to find those blood worms everywhere which in turn brought me to this site which i am greatful. it is relieveing to fnd they are are a good thing. now just to get my water clear so i can enjoy my fish. we live in ky where the temps are hitting 100 degrees for several days. could this be bad for my pond? any help????

you probably need more shade for your pond. once i got more floating plants the algae cleared right up. my pond is in full sun, all day everyday it doesn't rain!

I have seen your post, this site will help you understand about bloodworms.
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/invert/midges.html

I'm so tickled..I found bloodworms in the filter this wknd when I cleaned it. I immediately had to run in the house and show my hubby and let him know what they were and how I knew ..because I had read it here a few weeks ago!
Now I know the pond is healthy and happy and definetly thriving. We have about 6-8 frogs who have made it their home. Frogs now outnumber my fish. lol

Go little bloodworms go!

i had those same little red worms!freaked me out so much i ran for the clorox! my BB [ 3 year old daughter] likes to play in the water, and i got scared shed get wormes! thank goodness their harmless.

sue
you could try putting some frog houses around your pond. ive got a couple of frogs hanging around my pond they love to eat mesquito larva.