Swimming Poop...well, A Worm Actually...help

[thrujenseyes]

Hello all!  It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted but all has been going so well (knock wood). 
Tank (6 gallon fluval edge, with live plants and 6 teeny endlers ad two snails) has been up and running very well for the last two and a half months.
Once a week I do a 30-40% water change.  Water clear, all things great.
This am I noticed what looked like a tiny poop up on the top glass...looked closer and it was clearly moving, and not by the current.  It was squirming like a snake.  It was so tiny, I almost couldn't see it.
It was brown. 
I put a sponge in there and got it out. 
 
Any idea what this could be?  I haven't added anything new.

 

[snork6]

I believe I saw something on the forum about it. It is little larva form a bug it will not harm the fish they will just make a good snack out of it btw I have clear ones in my tank and my fish live for about 6-12 month so I don't think it's killing them
 
I could be wrong though could you post a pic if you see more?

 

[thrujenseyes]

Hello and thanks for the response but the more I look around on line the more I'm thinking it planaria (did I spell that right).
 
I'm worried as it says can be harmful to small delicate fish and I have endlers.

 

[snork6]

I don't know that much about that parasite But what I do know is you will not be able to get any help if you can't find a picture of what it lookes like or take a pic of the one in your tank. Sorry agin hope some one who knows a lot about this stuff can help you

 

[thrujenseyes]

I couldn't get a shot because it was that small...wouldn't focus on it.  And I didn't have time to bust out my real camera.  I wanted it out of the tank. 
Like I said, it's looks like planaria.  So I'm just googling and going from there.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hmm, I have had planeria before, in a snail breeding tank, and planeria is usually due to overfeeding really.
 
Planeria tends to be whitish in colour with an arrow sort of shaped head, about 2 - 5mm in size in total.
Though I have seen pictures online with them as a sort of transparent brown.
There are different species of planeria though, some are harmless, others can pose a threat to livestock, usually to shrimps or snails and on odd occasion fish.
 
Planeria can be rid of by treating the tank with fenbendazole based meds, some certain dog worming tablets for example has fenbendazole, simply crush a small amount of tablet really well, mix well with some tank water in a small container until dissolved mostly, add to tank, that should get rid of most of the planeria, a repeat treatment may be needed a few days afterwards. I have tried this method myself, it does work.
 
Be warned though, this treatment can make the tank messy, covering plants and decor, subtrate in a white debris, harmless and will go away eventually after water changes and cleaning, this will not do any harm whatsoever to your tank stocking, in fact may even help them get rid of possible worm type parasites you did not know they had.
 
Fish, will happily snack on planeria btw

 
This could be as simple as bloodworms if you have fed your fish live bloodworms and a few have survived possibly.
 
If these worms swim in a S sort of shape, they generally are nemotodes, usually harmless.
 
I believe every fish tank has small worm like creatures that are generally harmless and are part of the life system of aquaria.
 
Have a look online and see if you can see any picture that matches what you have seen in your tank, this will probably be the best method, and if you find something and you belive to be what you have, do let us know

 

[thrujenseyes]

hey ch4rlie
You're always super helpful and I so appreciate the info!
 
I did go google crazy yesterday and plantaria seem to look and be most likely what I saw.  It was too tiny to see if it actually had that triangle head but I did read and see pics that looked to be a sort of brownish color worm like thing with a mucus type surrounding.  And it did circle into a little dot when I touched which I read that it does.  Ew.
 
Anyway.  I have been eyeballing the tank like a hawk and haven't seen anymore but I'm going to get in there today and really sift thru the gravel.  I did find a couple of almost barely there baby assassin snails though.  How adorable are they?!?!???
 
I will assess the situation further after tearing the tank apart later on and let you know if I will be treating the way you suggested...which is actually what I read to do also....but it's always super reassuring to have someone here tell me I'm on the right path.
 
Oh....on a totally separate note...
Should I be totally changing out the filter pad by now, because I haven't yet.  I've rinsed a couple of times in fishy water to get crud out and put back in...a little afraid to get rid of too much beneficial bacteria yet being that I just got the tank cycled and running about two months ago.
 
Good to see you again and thanks a million!!!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thats good you have been researching on what you may have in your tank and making possible plans about this.
 

Oh....on a totally separate note...
Should I be totally changing out the filter pad by now, because I haven't yet.  I've rinsed a couple of times in fishy water to get crud out and put back in...a little afraid to get rid of too much beneficial bacteria yet being that I just got the tank cycled and running about two months ago.

 
Short answer is no.
 
I have never changed my filter sponge media from my filters, most fishkeepers keep their filter media until they are litterally falling apart after a few years, then relplace them a third or half at a time so as nto to affect the bacteria colony numbers too much.
 
Rinsing out filter sponge media is the way to go, to be safe I only rinse out half of my sponge media at a time, as again, bactoeria colony numbers may be affected if your rinse out too much and results in ammonia / nitrite spikes.
 
You say you have filter pads, not sure if this is the same as sponge media but these pads will have bacteria on them regardless.
 
I had cartridge type media in my HOB filter at one time, found it rubbish tbh, and simply threw these cartridges out and stuffed the HOB with sponge media and ceramic noodles instead, have had this filter running for two years with the same media and only rinsed out half the sponge when see the flow of filter slowing down.
 

 
And also, I have filter floss in my filter, this is just simply for cleaning out the tiny bits of debris the coarser sponge media misses, this results in nice clean tank water, I replace the filter floss every week. Thats the only thing i throw out when comes to filters tbh.

 

[Essjay]

I see in the first post that you have 2 snails in the tank. If you use Charlie's treatment you'll need to remove the snails for the duration - and actually for a good while afterwards as these meds kill snails (and shrimps).

 

[Ch4rlie]

I see in the first post that you have 2 snails in the tank. If you use Charlie's treatment you'll need to remove the snails for the duration - and actually for a good while afterwards as these meds kill snails (and shrimps).

 
Good point, apparently is not good for shrimps or snails. So on the safe side I had the tank empty of snails when I did that treatment, actually I fed all the snails to my assassin snails

 
Once treatment was done, I ran active carbon media for a few weeks then returned the snails, no problem arose tbh.
 
I should have mentioned this. But regardless, it does not affect fish species at all though.
 
Thanks essjay

 
EDIT : I remembered an article and have just found this article on a trusted website that I use sometimes when researching shrimps and snails, good info for this topic -
 
Kill Planeria and Hydra

 

[Essjay]

It was flubendazole that I used rather than fenbendazole (wormer plus for camallanus worms). I used carbon and polyfilter - the stuff that removes toxins not filter wool - and water changes to remove the med but I still killed a nerite by putting it back too soon. I returned the rest of the snails after 2 months and they were OK after that length of time

 

[thrujenseyes]

Oh man guys...Fabulous info!!!  And yes, I had read to remove the snails. 
Being that I have no other tanks...can I keep them in a bowl?!  Will they crawl out?!
 
And about the filter media...cha4lie, great great advice, thanks a ton!!!!!  Never heard of that floss stuff...will definitely look into!

 

[Essjay]

Luckily I have a quarantine tank to keep the snails in.
But something like an old ice cream tub with holes punched in the lid should be OK in summer - monitor the ammonia level and do as many water changes as necessary, which won't be hard in an ice cream tub. And don't forget to feed them.

 

[thrujenseyes]

gotchya!  thanks!!!
 
I suppose I need a divider as well...or two separate tubs...
 
my one snail is an assassin (although I believe he's terrible at his job as the two have lived in perfect harmony since the beginning of the tank set up!  Both were stow aways on plants).

 

[thrujenseyes]

Good news!  I took everything out of the tank yesterday and sifted thru all of the gravel.  No other wormy sightings!!  But I did notice when I took out the anubis that is attached to a rock that there are these weird little white pocket type things stuck all over it.  I had noticed before but they were much easier to see once out of the tank.  
 
I'm wondering if they are assassin eggs as I found two super teeny assassins on that same rock.
 
Pic attached