little jumping things on water surface

Question
QUESTION: hello,
My situation began 2 days ago with these little yellow-ish things with antennae about the size of the eye of a needle jumping around the surface of my 29gal tank. The next day  I noticed there were teenie tiny white squiggly things spastically swimming about in the water. (I hoped the fish would have eaten the other hopping things). This morning when I put the aquarium light on, the water was clouded with these white wiggly creatures! They even crawl on the glass inside the tank...It's some sort of invasion! I've changed the cartridge and rinsed out the filter unit, and just added "Parasite Clear", which seems to be working (there are fewer thingys floating around)....but what the heck are they?  Thanks for any info!

ANSWER: Hi Tracey;

They can indeed be frustrating. I've had bouts with them too. There are two types of bugs you are dealing with here. Neither one are harmful to your fish, but the cause for their existence is quite harmful. These critters are feeding on excess waste in your tank. The population invasion is testimony to that. It is caused by overfeeding the fish and/or overcrowding the tank. The only way to get rid of them is by starving them out. Cut back on how much food you feed the fish by 50% and do some gravel vacuuming with water changes. Do a gravel vac right away along with a 25% water change. Do more lighter gravel vacuumings again, once every 2 days for the next week or so. This will slowly get the crud out without stressing the fish too much but the critters will starve and die out eventually. It may take 3 or 4 weeks for them to almost disappear completely. What you don't want to do is empty the tank and start over. It's very hard on your fish and will cause the tank to go through a break-in period as if it were new. If the all new tank water doesn't kill the fish, the break-in period over the coming weeks may indeed kill all or most of them.

If you have too many fish in the tank, you may have to move a few out or get a larger tank. You didn't tell me anything about your fish (how many, how big, what kind, etc.) so I can't really say if that's what's going on in there or if it's just from overfeeding. Let me know more info and I can help you determine if your fish population is a problem.

The squiggly things in the water are a type of planarian or nematode. You see them more in the morning because they come out during the night in the dark. Their numbers may seem to be decreased by adding a parasite medication but they will survive it. It's better that the medication didn't work anyway because killing them would cause more problems with all those dead bodies rotting in your tank. These little critters are so strong they actually survive bleach treatments. Many years ago I had a guppy tank that was riddled with them. I didn't know what they were back then so I tried what you did; parasite killer. It didn't work. After several attempts and different brands of chemicals and medication I finally tried bleach. (I removed all the fish first of course.) I added a cup of regular household bleach, let it all circulate through the filter and all the decorations for a couple of hours. I then rinsed it all out with hot water and refilled the tank. I let it all run with water conditioner for a day or so. I looked in the tank and sure enough...there were live little squiggly critters in there. They eventually died out as I left the tank empty with no food for them for a week or two. It just shows how strong they are. Yikes.

The little floating bugs are eating waste, slime molds and algae that exists on the surface and around water edges. They will eventually go away too. Wipe the top edges of the tank, especially under the lid, and keep those areas clean as you work on the gravel and make water changes. All tanks need a weekly 25% change along with a gravel vac anyway. Once the crisis is over you can do that.

It will all get better, it just takes time and effort. The bugs may never go away completely but if you ever see them start to grow in numbers again, it's a clue that maybe things have gotten out of hand again and too much food is going into the tank.

I almost forgot to mention how to help get the right amount of food to your fish without overdoing it...

Feed your fish once a day. When you put food in, only give them enough food that they finish it from all areas of the tank within about 5 minutes. If you really want to feed them twice a day, feed only enough to eat it all in less than about 2 to 3 minutes.  If there is food leftover anywhere such as on the plants, decorations, rocks, etc, after that time, too much food is going in. Cut back until you get the food portions at the right amount.

Let me know if you need clarification or more help...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your info! I confess that overfeeding may have indeed been the culprit....I feed them once a day, but never really watch to see how fast they eat. I have noticed leftovers the next day on the rocks, etc.,so I guess that's that. I have 2 Senegal bichirs (1 albino)each 6" long, a Bala shark (about 5" long), a black tetra, and a red-fin shark. They all get along, but any newbies become lunch to the bichirs.


Thanks again!

Answer
Hi Tracey;

I had a feeling that's what was going on. ;-) It happens sometimes when we get busy in our lives. Now that you know what to do to fix it, hopefully everything will get back in shape again... Starve those little unwelcome visitors out!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins