Weird stuff in my tank... again

[ladymahler]

Hi wonderful people

A few days ago I had weird long thin pieces of string with two eyes in my tank, which turned out to be Zebra Danio fry. Ok, that was cool. Only, in my attempt to try and raise these fry in the last few days, I have been peeking into my vacuumed water really, really carefully.

I have found the most frightening stuff. May I add, more than one breed of weird life forms are worming around in my water. Perhaps these are good organisms, that eat up all the debris in the water... or perhaps they are evil. How can I find that out - any really good web resources on things that are barely visible to the naked eye?

A description of the two main characters:

- a thing that looks like an extremely thin white piece of needlework thread. Until it starts worming just like an earthworm. Yuk.
- a thing that looks like a lice of some sort, looks like it is eating the dirt particles.

Both are worming/crawling at the bottom of the container, so I guess their normal habitat is between the gravel.

Some tank facts:
- healthy & happy fish (so they tell me), mostly livebearers and four zebra danios
- pH is ever so slightly high, water slightly hard, as is suited for livebearers
- nitrites and ammonia levels are good
- nitrates could be slightly lower, but is acceptible
- water temp. 80F
- no salt (I got the salt, but too scared to add any, don't know how zebras will react, and have not had a real reason to put some salt in, yet, until now?)

Both water and fish condition have been quite stable. If anything, a week or two ago it looked like my molly was itching, but it disappeared in a day (it was a day or two after giving birth, so could have been that too).

Thanks for any help! I do love my fish.

 

[abstract]

planaria are common in our aquariums....these two things are most likely different stages of planaria...unfortunately, these are usually signs that we haven't been keeping up with our tank maintenance...you should try feeding less and doing more often tank cleanings until they are (mostly) gone

oops, and here's a link for more information
http/www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=...uarium+planaria

 

[ladymahler]

Thanks abstract!

Thanks for the link - yes, the wormies are definitely planaria. No more seconds for those fish. I do a lot of water changes as the tank is slightly overpopulated, but I think the feeding is the problem.

Any idea what the lice-like crawley could be?

Thanks

 

[abstract]

i was thinking the lice-like ones could be a younger stage of planaria, but it is also possible they are water mites

http/www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=ig&q=water+mite

either way, the cutting back on feeding should be your main concern...neither of these is HARMFUL to the aquarium, but they are indications that things are not in balance