i cleaned my filters out and there was these weird wriggly worm like things in the filter media... what the??? ive never seen these before??? what are they?

can you discribe them please. size/colour. most of the time its nothing to worry about and they just feed on the waste in the filter.

how often are you cleaning the filter? if you over feed and the waste food gets sucked into the filter is another reason. have you seen the other members post with large 2" worms ))

normally, there would be a lot of plenaria in the substrate or in the
fiber filter. but when i found worms in my fiber filter, i ask the same.

these worms were reddish in colour i think and were really small and skinny... i think maybe your right and i havnt cleaned my filters regulatory enough my O's stopped eating for nearly a couple of months so i didnt clean it much during that time... i realized they werent off their food they just wanted the trout pellets that i took them off and replaced with chichlid sticks, reason being the trout pellets clogged up everything and i was told they were no good for Oscars. but they wouldnt touch any proper Oscar food, so im back to feeding them trout pellets again, also i made another post about the eggs they've just laid, in the breeding section

let them thrive there for a while and eventually they will look like these:
www.oscarfishlover.com/oscar-fish-advice...9-what-kind-of-worms

given your location i would bet on blood worm, (mosquito larvae) great food for your fish )))
www.koiadventures.co.za/UserFiles/Image/...worms/Bloodworms.jpg

ahhh, mosquito larvae, that would explain it, im in australia so it the end of summer here and mosquito's are at their best, also with my tank being located outside on my patio i guess mosquito's would have adequate access to lay eggs, although i thought mosquitoes laid in still water

but they seemed smaller than those in the pic.... nearly like the bloodworm i feed them sometimes... could those survive in the filter?

actually, when i first noticed them, they are also less than 1 inch long.
however, they are now that long, almost 2 to 3 inches but blue color,
not brown anymore.

do they do any harm in yr filter? is it summet us hould get rid of straight away or embrase?

actually, when i put those worms back to the tank, the fishes greedily grab them.
i don't see any treat from the worms themselves.