Parasites on Glass??

[Briggan]

Hi
Today I went downstairs to turn on the tank light for my 20 gal and noticed a ton of little whitish, circular creatures all over the glass walls. They move in any direction, stuck themselves to the glass, and drift in the water.
Is there anyway to get rid of them (preferably without chemicals) and not harm the fish? Are they harmful?
Thanks

 

[FishGuest5123]

If they swim through the water then they are detritus worms. They are usually from over feeding. We all have them in our tanks but they usually stay in the substrate. Cut back on your feedings and do a large water change. Vacuum your substrate real well too. They will die off if you cut back on food and go back in the substrate. They won’t harm your fish. Good luck!

 

[Colin_T]

I agree with Deanasue's advice. They swarm over the glass when something is not right with the tank conditions, either poor water quality or chemicals.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks and they should go back into the substrate where they normally live.
Make sure nay new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If the tank has been running for more than 2 months and the filter is established, clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.

 

[Briggan]

Hi
Sorry it took so long to get back to this, but I have some pictures I took today.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Those don’t look like detritus worms. Not sure what they are.

 

[Briggan]

Me neither, I looked up detritus worms and they don’t don’t look like them.
I’ll siphon the gravel tomorrow and see what that does.

 

[Colin_T]

Gonna need a close up of them and maybe a side view.

They could be cyclops (copepods), baby snails, hydra.