Parasites in freshwater tank???

Question

My freshwater tank has small white wiggly things in the water and on the glass. They are less than a cm long and about the width of a strand of hair. There are hundreds of them and I am not sure if they are parasites or something else? My fish seem to not be in any distress, but everytime I look in the tank there seems to be more of these things! I am worried that they will keep multiplying and soon my fish won't be able to breathe. Does anyone out there know what they are???
Thanks!!

I am at work right now, but when I get home I'll try to take a pic of them. Due to their extremely small size I don't know how well they will show up though. They are less than a cm long and the width of a strand of hair.

Answer 1

I seriously doubt that these are parasites - most of the parasitic worms are so small, you wouldn't be able to see them without using a microscope.

Neither are they planaria - planaria are flat and wide-bodied, with definite eyespots, and only crawl along the glass and gravel. They don't "wiggle". Here's a few photos of what these will look like: http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/articles/critters/planaria1JOHNSON.jpg
, http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/images/planaria.jpg

What you have appears to be a nematode or Gordian worm (these have no segmentation or "rings" on the body like an earthworm has). Some types are parasitic (and these tend to be smaller), but others are harmless. Since yours appear to be more interested in eating the slime (bacteria) on the glass of the tank, than attaching to your fish, I would consider these to be a harmless type. They do indicate that there's probably too much waste in the gravel of the tank. You may just need to do more frequent cleanings of the gravel or to use a gravel vacuum and be sure you aren't overfeeding the fish.

See the link below for more about nematodes:

Source(s):
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/invertebrates/nematodes2.shtml

Answer 2

Freshwater Parasites In Fish Tanks

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Parasites in freshwater tank???
My freshwater tank has small white wiggly things in the water and on the glass. They are less than a cm long and about the width of a strand of hair. There are hundreds of them and I am not sure if they are parasites or something else? My fish seem to not be in any distress, but everytime I look...

Answer 4

..The little critters are planaria and are totally harmless to your fish. They are however a sign that some overfeeding has been going on. Planaria thrive on waste. We all overfeed from time to time. We just have to clean up after ourselves once we realize. Sometimes it isn't that we put too much food in, it's the quality of the food itself. Many foods are of low quality which means they have cheap ingredients as filler that the fish can't digest very well. This means excess waste builds up in the tank as they 'poop' it out.

You will want to do some vacuuming of the gravel to get rid of the waste that is in there now. Do the vacuuming twice a week for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Replace 25% of the water and vacuum at the same time. You may start to see more planaria at first as they become more brave in trying to find food. They will eventually starve out and most will go away. If you ever start to see them again, cut back on food again. In my experience, a tank that once had planaria is never totally clear of them. But, they don't hurt your fish and are a good warning sign that we are getting too generous with the food can.

- AS

Answer 5

Ditto copperhead 100%, most likely totally harmless and in fact many smaller fish will often eat them.

MM

Answer 6

Could you get some pictures of it posted? In the mean time I'm going to forward this out to some others.

JV

Follow up:

You can't be in much better hands then with Copperhead and Magicman here. I'd follow whatever they said. Thanks for the input guys!!

Answer 7

sounds like planaria they wont harm ur fish but there a sign that u have been over feeding