'creepy Crawly's' And Snails In New Tank With Live Plants

[214jay]

Good morning.
 
I am hoping for some advice.  I am day 10 into cycling a new 48L tank which is going well, unfortunately I added plants from a LFS which they said I could add straight to the water, unfortunately after more research I read I should have cleaned them first.
 
Yesterday a number of see through gold snails appeared in the tank, around 4mm in size, today there is one around 10mm in size.  Upon much closer inspection I have noticed tiny little yellow creatures <1mm in size shooting around in the substrate at the bottom and to my horror some very thin white worms (possibly leech's?) moving around.
 
I am not sure what the best course of action is really, my ammonia is at 3ppm so I am surprised these creatures are surviving so well!  Any recommendations for stopping a bug infestation is greatly appreciated!  I have just purchased a larger tank and will be starting a cycle on that, would I be best starting again with the smaller tank?
 
Many thanks
 
Jay

 

[stanleo]

The little white worms are planaria and they should die off with a lack of food. If they don't, don't worry about them too much because most fish will eat them. I have had them and they went away with less feeding and I see my endlers eat them up when they swim in the open.
 
The snails are very common and not something to worry about really. When the tank is cycled you can put a few assassin snails in and they will take care of the snails in no time. Since you aren't feeding food to the tank the population shouldn't get too bad during your cycle. Assassin snails are attractive and breed very slowly.
 
I am not sure what the yellow creatures are though I suspect they might be tiny baby snails. When they are that small they are sometimes hard to make out.

 

[214jay]

Oh great, I am glad they are harmless (and not leeches!)  The little yellow creatures whizz around like mad, they are able to swim but not sure what they are!