What Are These Things?

[showjyr]

I have a ten gallon tank that houses snails and Red cherry shrimp. Last week i noticed tiny grain of salt sized white specs on my glass. Tonight i can see a dozen or so white slug like things crawling on the glass. They are only 1 mm or less long. What could they be? Are they parasitic? How can i get rid of them? Is there a parasite treatment thats safe for use with shrimp and snails?

 

[K.J.]

They sound like planaria. Planaria are brought on by feeding too much and decaying matter at the bottom of the tank. They're not poisonous, and the fish will even eat them, but they are unsightly.

 

[showjyr]

The tank gets very little food because the shrimp and snails icnore it. How can i get rid of them if overfeeding is not the problem?

 

[Yazan]

Can you take them out, I mean there is only a dozen (12)

 

[Amunet]

It does sound like planaria.. could be an increase of ammonia that is causing them to appear. Your best bet to getting rid of them is to just do a few water changes while giving the gravel really good vacs.