Small white worms, help!

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Emarie

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I am fairly new to keeping fish. I have a 10gal freshwater tank, has been set up for about 6 months. I have 4 serape tetras and I do a 25% WC weekly, including a gravel vac, and I haven't had many problems as of yet. Yesterday when I went to feed the fish, I noticed what looked to just be small white particles all over the tank glass. They are microscopic in size. Upon closer inspection, these particles are moving and appear to be worms! What are they and how do I rid of them?
 

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Look like detritus worms which we all have in our substrate. No big deal. If you cut back on feeding then they’ll go back into substrate. Probably feeding too much.
 
Won’t let me edit above post right now but wanted to tell you to look at the worm. If it has a distinct pointed head then it is planaria. You’ll need to treat for them. If no distinct head then detritus. They look like the latter. Good luck!
 
Won’t let me edit above post right now but wanted to tell you to look at the worm. If it has a distinct pointed head then it is planaria. You’ll need to treat for them. If no distinct head then detritus. They look like the latter. Good luck!
They are literally SO small I couldn't tell. That picture is zoomed all the way in on my phone. There are hundreds of them though.
 
I’m sure it’s detritus worms. Just clean and vacuum substrate and cut back on feeding. Thar’s All you need to do. Good luck!
 
They normally live in the substrate but come out and swarm over the tank when the gravel is dirty or the water is not perfect. They will also swarm if you add medications.

Reduce the amount of dry food going into the tank.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week and they should go back into the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

After that, do a 75% water change and gravel clean once a week. Small 25% water changes don't do much to reduce disease organisms in the water.
 
I’m sure it’s detritus worms. Just clean and vacuum substrate and cut back on feeding. Thar’s All you need to do. Good luck!

Are you saying I have to stick my hand in a tank full of hundreds of worms? .. ... They aren't a danger to humans, right? And they can't live outside of water? Sorry, this really just grosses me out haha
 
If you’ve ever stuck your hand in your tank in the past then you’ve already done it, lol! They are always in there. They’re actually good because they help eat excess food.
 
Are you saying I have to stick my hand in a tank full of hundreds of worms? .. ... They aren't a danger to humans, right? And they can't live outside of water?
They are just an aquatic worm and will not harm you. There are plenty of other microscopic organisms in aquarium water that can make you sick so wash your hands with soapy water after working in the tank.

Get yourself a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link, and use that when you do water changes. It will clean the gunk out of the gravel without removing the gravel from the tank.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html
 

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