Mysterious Moving White Things

[Night61]

in my five gallon hex tank i have one pink betta, and two mystery snails, one black one blue. tonight when i went to turn the tank off i noticed lots of little white lines all over the tank, some of them are moving, i saw these at the tank at petsmart too. should i do a full 100% change to kill the little things, or are these baby mytery snails and if this the case should i justr kill off a few. please help

 

[Night61]

in my five gallon hex tank i have one pink betta, and two mystery snails, one black one blue. tonight when i went to turn the tank off i noticed lots of little white lines all over the tank, some of them are moving, i saw these at the tank at petsmart too. should i do a full 100% change to kill the little things, or are these baby mytery snails and if this the case should i justr kill off a few. please help

please help me find whats wrong.

 

[jourdy288]

Don't worry about them, chance are they're harmless. YOu're probably looking at non-parasitic nematodes if they crawl around on the tank walls, they're totally harmless.

 

[Colin_T]

they are probably planaria and are often found in tanks with lots of gunk in the gravel, or in tanks that get lots of food. Try doing a partial (30-50%) water change and complete gravel clean each day for a week. When the nutrients and organic matter have been reduced their numbers will naturally decrease. In the mean time don't worry too much because they don't harm the fish. They are simply an indicator that things aren't 100% in the tank.

 

[jourdy288]

Are they flat or thin? sometimes nematodes are thought to be planaria.

 

[drobbyb]

Planaria stick to the glass and ornaments. Nematodes are free swimming.

 

[Night61]

what will eat them?
will bettas or mystery snails eat them?

 

[loraxchick]

planarian worms can also be free-swimming as well as on the glass. they are harmless just icky. water changes and gravel vac as suggested and they will clear up.

 

[jourdy288]

Planaria stick to the glass and ornaments. Nematodes are free swimming.

Not always, I've seen nematodes on glass.

Also, you don't have to worry about getting rid of them unless you really don't like them. If you want to eliminate them, just increase your water changes and feed the fish a bit less. That's all you need to do, really. Don't add chemicals, though, these tend to not be too good for the fish and can also mess with your filtration.

 

[ThePiggy]

Nematode:

Planaria:

Hope this helps you find out what you've got

 

[nosoup4you]

Here's a good Planaria pic, they may appear smaller in your tank...

 

[ThePiggy]

How does something like that typically get introduced into a tank?

 

[nosoup4you]

They are usually introduced with fish or plants.

 

[drobbyb]

Great pics to help identify. They are usually a sign that you need to vacuum your gravel more often. Completly harmless to your fish (your fish may eat them).

 

[Colin_T]

what will eat them?
will bettas or mystery snails eat them?

most fish won't touch them, occasionally if you have some really really hungry gouramis they might pick at them, but in general fish will ignore them.