fish tanks

Question
my fish died a while ago and i took the fish out and i didnt clean the tank.Now i have some kind of little crreepyy worms in there and im afraid to touch the fish tank,how do i get rid of them? Are they dagerous or have any diseas?

Answer
Hi Pasyion;

The worms are just feeding on the excess waste in there. Since they have survived for quite some time you were probably overfeeding or the tank was overcrowded. These little creatures are not usually harmful to our fish but they are a sign of too much organic waste. If it were my tank, I would drain it out and clean everything. Rinse the gravel until the water runs clear through it.

It will need to go through the break-in period when you get it started again. Start with only one inch of fish for every ten gallons. Don't put any more for 6 weeks, or until water tests show that there is no ammonia and no nitrite present. Here are some links to help you with that further and a few other basics that may help you;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquariumstartup/a/newtankmistakes.htm
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/charts/good_bad.html
http://www.firsttankguide.net/capacity.php
http://www.firsttankguide.net/capacity.php

Followups welcome.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins