Help! Bird of Paradise parasites

[Paul]

We have an indoor Bird of Paradise plant about 5 feet tall. We got it only couple of months ago. Just couple of days ago i've noticed a small segmented worm under the plant. The worm is about half an inch long of light brown color. I looked closely in the soil and noticed tens of much smaller worms like this one. Whitish to brownish color, segmented but no legs that i could see. The plant also has one suspicious black hole on one of the branches. Plus some leafs have no less suspicious holes through them. Not to many though. Only 3 or 4 about half an inch to quarter of an inch in diameter. These holes possibly came with the plant. I'm no gardening expert, but i think that something could be living inside the stems that is damaging the plant. And those worms could come from the larvae as we had a problem with tiny flies in the fall. Can anybody recommend what to do with these worms or holes in the leaves?

[Cereoid-UR12-]

Return it to where you bought it and ask for your money back.

[V_coerulea]

If you have a large bucket you can mix up some diazinon or orthene in, you can then soak the pot in it to kill off any of the centipedes or millipedes (or any other "worm"), any fungus gnats and their larvae, and most other unseen problems. When drained, I'd sprinkle some snail bait on the soil surface in case there's some of them that survived your treatment and are causing your leaf problems at night when you don't see them. Otherwise Strelitzia is a marvelously wonderful plant, easy to grow and care for (don't overwater, use a well-drained mix), and will reward you with flowers yearly after reaching flowering size. Gary