White moving stuff!!!!!!!!!

Question
I have white moving skinny lines in my tank. The multiply quickly and it bothers me. I can't see eyes or where its head or butt is. Is it dangerous to fish? My snails are dying because of that horrible stuff? Or is it a good thing to have them? Thanks!:)

Answer
Hi Christian,
The white moving skinny lines are in fact Planaria worms. These are scavengers that can multiply by the hundreds when the conditions in the tank are right. They are especially common in tanks with heavy waste producers like oscars and goldfish, but they can appear anywhere. The planaria themselves are not harmful, but their presence means something is wrong and unbalanced with the tank. The fact that the planaria increase their numbers when the nutrient levels of the tank rises too much means that they are indicators of poor water quality. The best thing to do is to change 50% of the water everyday, using your gravel vaccum siphon waste in the bottom, making sure to push deep down into the gravel and also siphon as many worms as possible. The worms will likely re-appear after the first water change, but with persistent 50% water changes daily, the food source of the worms will be depleted and they will go away. To keep them from coming back make sure your nitrate levels are as low as possible, the general guideline is 20 or less. You can easily test your nitrate level with a simple test kit from the petstore. Also make sure your tank isn't overstocked and you aren't overfeeding.

I'm not meaning to sound like I'm drilling you. Not at all. ;-) But a lot of planaria worms means the water isn't healthy for your fishies and  your snails also. If your snails are dying a lot then their own decaying bodies are an added food source for the planaria. As gross as it sounds.
Snails usually are quite hardy critters, I wonder why you are losing yours? :(

I hope this helps!
Karen~