Black flat worm in toilet

landp

Well-known member
Ok this is gross, but I have black flat worms crawling out of my toilet. I dont think they are tapeworms I have not examined hundred of pics of tapes worms and these werent amoung them. I think they are larvae of Drain flies but I cant find any pics. Anyone else had this problem in the past? How did you kill them off?
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
This link will get you to several sites on drain flies. One of them describes the larvae as being pale-colored, not black. I tried searching for something better, but there's nothing. Might need to collect some and take them to a pest control company or university entomologist to find the best way to get rid of them. Good luck!

http://www.ask.com/web?&o=101881&l=dis&q=drain%20flies
 

Paul_in_MN

Active Member
Most every living thing falls dead when given ordinary bleach to live in. I doubt that it is necessary to identify the critter, but the only thing you really care about is getting rid of the suckers. I'd try about 1 qt of bleach and a good dose (cup maybe) of TSP (trisodium phosphate). Back when I was teaching biology in a high school, we had some tapeworms in a jar. They were not black, but mostly almost clear. They have no digestive system as they are bathed in digested food and thus can absorb their entire food needs. A tapeworm has a very tiny head and thin body that is constantly producing the segments which are reproductive structures (proglottids) that have both male and female parts. Tapeworms have been known to get to 30 feet long, but they are quite a thin ribbon and can not swim.

Certainly there are a multitude of other nasty worm like critters, and some that will do serious damage to the human body (like the pork worm trichina). But they all die in bleach (or even more expensive biocides). The purpose of the TSP is to dissolve their protective slime coat, so the bleach kills faster.

Now the $64,000 question.....how did they get into the blackwater tank? I'd be quite suspicious about the freshwater tank being contaminated also. If it was my trailer, all 3 waste tanks and the freshwater tank would get the bleach and TSP treatment, and I'd start with the freshwater tank. Fill it completely full with probably more than a gallon of bleach, but turn off your water heater so you are not heating the chemical mixture. Open all taps one at a time until a really strong bleach smell comes out with the water. This waste water will wash down the sink and shower traps to eliminate any critters that may be living there. If your holding tanks have the electronic sensors for gauging the fullness, the bleach may be destructive to the tank sensors (but I don't really know for sure).

Good luck, and give us the report of how this or another method worked.

Paul_in_MN
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
Paul, I think you gave a pretty honest assessment of the situation and some good advice. The only thing that I would reconsider is the gallon of bleach in the fresh water tank. That seems way too much. I used about 2 cups to sanitize my tank and got a real bleachy smell when I opened the taps.

John
 

hoefler

Well-known member
Also very important, let it stand in the system for at least 24 hours before flushing. I would consider a stronger mixture in the holding tanks and let it stand even longer. The chlorine vapors will kill the ones that are not in the solution on the bottom of the tank.
 

Paul_in_MN

Active Member
I agree that this sounds like giant overkill. But on my ERidge, the freshwater tank is 54 gal capacity, and that was the thought going through my mind when I wrote that reply. Maybe a more moderate dose of the bleach would do the job, and require less flushing of the freshwater tank to get the chlorine smell out. But I just can't imagine only 2 cups in 54 gallons as being enough to kill the darn critters. When I worked part time as a house painter, we'd mix more than 2 cups of bleach and a bunch of TSP in a 2 to 3 gallon pail of water to wash the mold and mildew off a painted surface. And it would take at least 2 scrubbings to get the blackish stuff off the paint. Shoot, bleach is cheap and is quite effective. My other thought was I do not want to do this again, and do not want to possibly subject my family to some bad critters. So I'd lean on the side of "overkill!!".

I am not a bleach salesman, and get no financial reward for recommending the product. So do whatever you want......

Paul_in_MN
 

Rockerga

Full-time WANNABE
I do not think a gallon in 54 gallons is overkill by any stretch. A strong mix ratio is DESIRED, then fill to drown/saturate every nook and cranny of your water systems INCLUDING THE CEILING of the holding tanks. Any amount of rinsing will be satisfied by the knowledge you have SANITARY tanks!

When I used my RV only seasonally I would use close to a gallon in each of my tanks then let them "Stew" for 24 hours!

I, on the other hand would also positively identify the species of flat worm. Just to be on the safe side to ensure it came from another source versus a more rare case of human infestation, which is possible but due to the nasty nature of such a parasite it is worthy of identification.


I agree that this sounds like giant overkill. But on my ERidge, the freshwater tank is 54 gal capacity, and that was the thought going through my mind when I wrote that reply. Maybe a more moderate dose of the bleach would do the job, and require less flushing of the freshwater tank to get the chlorine smell out. But I just can't imagine only 2 cups in 54 gallons as being enough to kill the darn critters. When I worked part time as a house painter, we'd mix more than 2 cups of bleach and a bunch of TSP in a 2 to 3 gallon pail of water to wash the mold and mildew off a painted surface. And it would take at least 2 scrubbings to get the blackish stuff off the paint. Shoot, bleach is cheap and is quite effective. My other thought was I do not want to do this again, and do not want to possibly subject my family to some bad critters. So I'd lean on the side of "overkill!!".

I am not a bleach salesman, and get no financial reward for recommending the product. So do whatever you want......

Paul_in_MN
 
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JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
...I, on the other hand would also positively identify the species of flat worm. Just to be on the safe side to ensure it came from another source versus a more rare case of human infestation, which is possible but due to the nasty nature of such a parasite it is worthy of identification.

Especially since considerable Internet searching does not come up with information for a flat, black worm. To be drain fly larvae (wrong color), there would be drain flies doing their thing inside the bathroom after they mature. There was no mention of actual flies being seen.
 

Sailor

Active Member
I don't know anything about the worms. But I would suggest that you flush the black water tank well before adding bleach to it, and letting it set for 24 hours. I saw something on Spike TV Mananswers that mixing bleach with black waste water will create a deadly gas! I tried to Google this but could not find anything on it. So I don’t know if this is really true or not. So if I am wrong please accept my apologies for passing on bad info. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:eek:ffice:eek:ffice" /><o:p></o:p>
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
You can liberate/generate hydrogen sulfide gas by adding bleach to waste water. Don't do it under any circumstances. Do as the poster stated, flush it first. An ounce of copper sulfate instead of the bleach is safer.
 

mesteve

Well-known member
Often, one looks at a bottle of bleach and wonders, 'Why shouldn't this be mixed with ammonia?' If you know how dangerous chlorine gas is to humans (it was used as a chemical weapon during World War I and later by Nazi Germany in World War II), this will be very apparent. This entry will tell of a few reactions that can occur when bleach and ammonia are mixed in various proportions - the release of chlorine gas is just one of these. In the following sections, the header will be the name of the most dangerous compound produced in the reaction shown. Please, do not try any of this at home.
Chlorine Gas (Cl2)
That warning is there to protect you. Household bleach has a chemical formula of NaOCl - that is, one atom each of sodium, oxygen, and chlorine. Its chemical name, for the curious, is sodium hypochlorite. Ammonia has a chemical formula of NH3, that is, one atom of nitrogen and three atoms of hydrogen. When these two compounds are combined, the following reaction takes place:
2(parts)NaOCl + 2NH3 --> 2NaONH3 + Cl2.
Do you see that Cl2 on the right hand side there? This means one part chlorine gas, made up of diatomic (two atom) molecules. It also means that the chlorine gas has been liberated from the bleach, and is quite capable of causing you harm when inhaled!
The Pain! The Pain!
To understand the effects chlorine gas has on the body, we first need to understand the chemical properties of chlorine, particularly its valence, or number of chemical bonds chlorine can form. Chlorine is in the seventh of the traditional groups of elements, one before the group of inert gases, which, as their name suggests, are almost completely unreactive. Chlorine has seven electrons in its outer electron shell.
The Octet Rule states that all elements try to fill in their outer electron shell until they have eight electrons. When a chemical has eight electrons in its outer shell, it is then stable. Being so close to having 8 electrons in its outer shell, chlorine is quite desperate to get that one last electron - and will literally rip other atoms apart to do so. This is what happens to your respiratory system when you inhale chlorine gas. The gas tears into your nasal passages, trachea, and lungs by causing massive cellular damage. Obviously, chlorine gas causes a very painful death.
Nitrogen Trichloride (NCl3)
Another potential reaction, which occurs when a greater amount of bleach is added than ammonia, is this:
3NaOCl + NH3 --> 3NaOH + NCl3
That's sodium hydroxide and nitrogen trichloride. Nitrogen trichloride is a very toxic chemical to humans, and even if you did get close enough to ingest it, it would probably explode in your face first, as it is also a very volatile explosive. There is little necessity in explaining why that is bad.
Hydrazine (N2H4)
Still another reaction - in three parts this time - can occur, producing hydrazine (N2H4, a component of rocket fuel) if you have more ammonia than bleach:
NH3 + NaOCl --> NaOH + NH2Cl.
These two products then react with ammonia as follows:
NH3 + NH2Cl + NaOH -->N2H4 + NaCl + H2O.
One last reaction occurs to stabilise the reagents:
2NH2Cl + N2H4 --> 2 NH4Cl + N2. This last equation is of particular interest because of the amount of heat it produces. The heat is so great that it usually leads to an explosion.

Unregrettingly copy and pasted (plagerized if you will).

On a personal note, in a previous house, we kept the dogs in the garage over the winter and one was not too happy about this arrangement and peed every where. I broke out the bleach and a push broom, but to be on the safe side, the door was up and the back door open with a fan. THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP FROM TAKING MY BREATH AWAY FOR SEVERAL HOURS. I had to flood the garage floor with water to rinse away the solution and let it dry before going back in.
 

RoadJunkie

Well-known member
Bleach may kill the critters if they have infiltrated the fresh water tank, but aren't they still in the tank only dead? I guess they would pass through the fresh water drain? Also, (the elephant in the room) is it possible the worm came from a, well, human source? I'm not pointing fingers, just ask'n.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
The "chicken or the egg" question. Whatever kind of bug it is, it seems logical that the first female hitched a ride, or deposited them on something, to get her eggs into the tank.
 

driver311

Well-known member
maybe u should be on your way to the doctor instead of worrying about the black tank ????????????????????????
 

Jimmyt5

Well-known member
The second time I dumped the shower tank I had a clear elbow on the line and I was watching it. Low and behold I saw some very small tadpoles come out. They were sticking to the clear elbow. I stopped the dump and went and got my neighbor to take a look and he agreed with me, we soon had abunch of guys looking. The only thoughts I had was that the tank sat out someplace before it was installed or something went down the vent pipe.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
The second time I dumped the shower tank I had a clear elbow on the line and I was watching it. Low and behold I saw some very small tadpoles come out. They were sticking to the clear elbow. I stopped the dump and went and got my neighbor to take a look and he agreed with me, we soon had abunch of guys looking. The only thoughts I had was that the tank sat out someplace before it was installed or something went down the vent pipe.

Tadpoles?? I'll bet those froglegs don't taste like chicken.
 

Tom_Diane

Member
Leeches? They would appear to be flat at first glance, they are black and live in mud, they would have a yellow stripe on their body. Then theres water leeches, smaller in size but survive in water and have no stripe and are smaller than a mud leech. both appear flat as they inch along. Both make good catfish bait. May be something else but thats the first thing that comes to mind by your description. I couldnt explain how they may have gotten into your black water tank however Iwouldthink a leech would thrive in an enviroment such as a holding tank. Try a google search on leeches
 
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