What are these things in my tank?

[elmuyloco5]

Hi,

I have these strange clear/whiteish things that are sticking to the inside of my tank. They are very tiny, about 1 mm long. They are clear with white and a little brown in them. At first I thought maybe baby snails, but I then saw the baby snails that we ended up with too. I have one betta, two snails, and we had ten ghost shrimp, but I think there is about 4 left now. There were several ghost shrimp that were pregnant, so I thought maybe....but these things stick to the inside walls and crawl around. They are much smaller than the baby snails in there and they're clear...so I don't know what to make of it. I would appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks,
Katrina

[shev]

could be planaria.

[elmuyloco5]

Well I googled planaria and I don't think that's it. They are oval in shape and I can't really see any definate front or back end. The description of planeria said that they are nocturnal and only come out at night. These guys are all over the walls of my tank all day, every day. They move slowly like snails but don't appear to be growing larger. The tank is only about 3 weeks old,

[Pufferpunk]

Generally from pooor water quality--overfeeding & infrequent water changes.

[Mr Aquarium]

I beg to differ that planaria are Nocturnal,
they sure have not been in my tank when I have them.
Thay are hard to describe but they are very hard to see little white colored worms that smiw/float around your tank, stick to the glass, get in the gravle, just a tiny worm wiggler pretty much.

[TheOldSalt]

Planarians come in an amazing array of sizes, colors, and shapes. It is a very safe bet that these are what you have.

[elmuyloco5]

So what do I do to get rid of them? The water looks very clear. I thought with bettas you didn't need to change that often. We have a filter, we treated the water and I don't think I feed him too much as he eats all of the food quickly. Last time we had a tank we never got those. I'm just confused as to what we've done wrong.

Thanks for your help.

[elmuyloco5]

one more thing to add......I looked up planeria again and it said that snails and betta eat them (not happening) and that they contain a toxic coating that wont hurt fish but will kill shrimp (which it hasn't done as I'm sure my betta ate some of them). Sorry this is just confusing.

[nuthingspecial]

do they look like this?
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/tbs/babybrine_tb.jpg
or
http://www.seahorse.org/library/arti.../Foods/BBS.jpg
they are baby brine shrimp so maybe they are them

[Beerleader]

I just found this thread so sorry for re-posting, but I found these same very things the original poster seems to be describing in my Discus tank, and it came after a small algae burst. Now the algae is gone but I saw these clear/white (crab or spider) looking tiny things clinging to the sides of the glass. Someone suggested Hydra and are possibly correct, its just hard to speculate because I've only seen drawings not actually pics due to their small size. I am positive they are not planaria, but unsure of what else they might be. This is an established tank and has never had anything like this occur.

[mlefev]

I have odd white things in my tank too. they are curled up almost like the "at" symbol on the computer. I scooped every one out because I didn't want to know what they were. I know they're not exactly what you're describing, but they're odd nevertheless.

[ALFA WOLF]

I had the smae problem also after having my tank for about 2 weeks i saw em. Do u think it is from live plants maybe thats were we got em from the plants.

[Damon]

Planaria and other coepods come in various sizes and shapes as stated by T.O.S. They are the result of poor water quality. By poor we are not necessarily talking about ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates but too muchorganic compounds in the gravel or substrate. They are harmless and many fish will eat them. Never known them to harm shrimp and I have had them in my shrimp only tanks before. They are easy to get rid of with proper waterchanges and gravel vaccuming.

[ALFA WOLF]

i have them in my tank with abotu 8 ghost shrimp and they are still going strong about 1 month. Only one is little damaged cause my neice turned on the light and my fish freaked and ran right into the little guy.

[drosera]

Hi,

I've already posted this link on another topic, but I'll do it again for the benefit of those who are here.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/drosera1/fish/fish.htm (Click on "The Worms!)

Take care!

Chris