# Frogs & Toads > Dart Frogs (Dendrobatidae) > Breeding, Eggs, Tadpoles, etc >  Worms in my tadpole cups!

## AbranV

Over the past week I've been beginning to find some thin hairlike worms in one of the tadpole cups. Today I noticed them really bad in only one of the cups, but there have been a couple noticed in some of the others. I'm thinking some sort of nematode, but not completely sure. 

Should I pull the tadpole to another cup?



Anything I need to be worried about?

Thanks!

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## James

These are likely detritus worms which are common in aquariums as well. I've had them in tadpole set ups.


Detritus worms aren't harmful themselves, but in large numbers are signs that other things are going wrong.

Larger numbers are usually a sign that there is overfeeding / excess food.    Do you feed so it is all eaten within a day and remove uneaten food before feeding again?

Also a sign that the oxygen levels may be low, etc. as the excess food will lead to that.


Even though they aren't harmful (but I also find them disgusting as well), I would recommend transfering your tad to a new cup and rinsing the java moss, etc. before transfering so that you lower the excess food/debris.
Then monitor feeding / remove uneaten food / do water changes on a regular basis.

You can never get rid of them, but the better water conditions will keep their numbers low to unnoticeable.

Hope this helps.

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## AbranV

Thanks for the reply. It's just really weird that out of the five cups, only one is "infested". I'll change out the cup and give it new java moss to be safe.



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## James

They could be in your other cups as well, but are hiding in the moss, etc.

They can come out and climb the surface in larger numbers when oxygen levels are getting low.


Otherwise the one cup might be an indicator of what will eventually happen in the others if cultured the same way (variability happens).


I freaked out when I first saw them / had them. Lack of excess food / better water quality should fix it.

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