Invaders

[SuperColey1]

I've posted this topic in Tropical chit chat but thought as it was probably due to being planted I may as well post it here too:

I have noticed over the past month 2 different creatures in my tank.

The first (of which I have managed to catch and bin one) is a pink wormlike (almost like bloodworm) creature, very thin and the largest I have seen is 1 inch in length. They scurry over the substrate mainly, although the one I managed to catch was moving much like a snake along the glass a couple of inches above the substrate. They are not on view most of the time and it is rare that I get a sighting let alone have time to get the net and attempt to catch them.

The second looks much like a woodlouse. When I took my mopani cave out last month to turn the Anubia around and trim it up as it was growing more and more towards the glass. I dropped the Mopani on some newspaper and out dropped the louse and scurried off until it ran out of water and started struggling. Yesterday I noticed the same sort of creature scurrying along the mopani and disappeared under the roof. Again it is rarely seen and only occasionally (in this case once) have I seen it despite yesterday watching the tank at length at various times.

What I would like to know is:
Will they be of any harm to my fish?
Will the Neons I am buying eat them?
Will they breed and take over the tank?
Will they disturb my water parameters?
Where could they have come from?

Seeing as the woodlouse came from the Mopani which I trimmed and this was before the CO2 overdose killed the fish and shrimp, this creature must be pretty hardy to say the least. I have only noticed the worm over the last week so I am guessing this came with the 3 Tropica Pots I put in 3 weeks ago from......DOH. Pets at Home.

Any help will be most appreciated and any tips on ridding them from my tank received with thanks.

 

[nry]

I did quick Google on freshwater insects. Not really sure on the worm thingy, I wonder if the woodlouse type one was something like a gammarus? I did see a worm-like creature similar to the one you described in the water bucket I had a plant in a few weeks ago before planting, can't say I have seen one in my tank though.

 

[Liam]

The woodlouse an aquatic version of the regular one, wont do any harm to fish or anything else. Once you get some fish in there they will get eaten eventually, even amano shrimp kill and eat them. I have a few in my tank they eat much the same as the shrimp. I quite like them but do remove any that are easy to catch they are mostly nocturnal. The wormlike one may be planaria nothing to worry about if that is what it is, some fish do eat them, SAEs will, they wont become much of a problem with fish, in shrimp tanks they can get out of hand and are hard to get rid of.

 

[SuperColey1]

The woodlouse an aquatic version of the regular one, wont do any harm to fish or anything else. Once you get some fish in there they will get eaten eventually, even amano shrimp kill and eat them. I have a few in my tank they eat much the same as the shrimp. I quite like them but do remove any that are easy to catch they are mostly nocturnal. The wormlike one may be planaria nothing to worry about if that is what it is, some fish do eat them, SAEs will, they wont become much of a problem with fish, in shrimp tanks they can get out of hand and are hard to get rid of.

Cheers Liam, set my mind at ease. Its the first case of aliens in my tank (apart from snails)

Andy