Weird creatures in Betta Tank

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Hannie

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I am totally scared right now because I woke up to strange things in my tank that have just appeared over night! On the glass on my aquarium are tiny white worms that seem to be eating algae (doing research hopefully they are just flatworms) but there are also tiny white bug things darting around in the water super fast! Are the two related? Are they harmful? Where did they come from?? Ahhhh!
Btw it is a 10 gallon planted tank with one betta and a few ghost shrimp. Some ghost shrimp have recently died, hopefully not from these things. Also, a shrimp died yesterday that was pregnant, maybe the tiny things are baby shrimp? Also she had this strange red circle on her, but I doing research I could not find any red parasites on shrimp. Sorry I am freaking out lol.
 
Where was the red circle on the female shrimp? Do you have any pictures of the “worms”? I hope I can help you, if I see a picture. :)
 
Thank you for the response!! I will try and get a picture when I get home. It was a deep red circle in her head, it was there when I got her and didn’t grow or anything so I didn’t think much of it.
 
Without seeing a picture, I can’t know for shure. :)

I can’t wait to see the pictures, so I can help you!!:)
 
I have tried for forever to take a good picture but unfortunately they are so tiny and clear this was all I could get. They are defiantly eating the algae but they don’t seem to be anywhere else in the tank except on the glass. Also, the white bug things seem to be gone now. I also just remembered I put in a almond leaf from Thailand in the tank, so perhaps that is where they came from.
 

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Never mind, the weird white bugs are still there. :( They are so tiny and so fast that there’s no way I would be able to take a pic, but it seems like they have legs. Creepy...
 
The worms are parasitic, and are either called roundworms or flat worms, Both are bad for your tank. No idea on the bugs. :eek:
 
Ahhh! Are you sure they aren’t detritus worms?? Also I thought flatworms weren’t parasitic?
 
the small things flicking about are probable cyclops (copepods) and they are normally harmless.

the worms are either planaria or detritus worms, both of which are relatively harmless and normally live in the gravel. If the water quality deteriorates or there is lots of gunk in the substrate, the worms will leave the gravel and try to move somewhere else.

The best thing to do is a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. When the conditions are better, the worms will go back into the gravel.

The cyclops will breed like mad for a month or two and then their numbers will drop back too.
 
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