I have parasites....help please

Question
Karen,
My fish knowledge is limited but I know some, I recently lost two of my favorite fish and don't want to lose any others, I have parasites in my tank but I don't know if they were the cause of dath or if it was just old age.  There are thousand of little worm looking parasites stuck to the glass of my tank, what's weird is that the tank has only been up and running a month, I had to make quite the move with them, they are in a 55 gal tank I have only an oscar I've had for 4 years now and these things are everywhere on the glass, they don't move much and are impossible to see unless you look very close then they're easy to spot, they look like tiny white worms, please help me save my fish.
thanks Paul
PS it's my wifes email.

Answer
Hi Paul,
I'm quite certain that what you are seeing is Planaria worms. These are not parasites and they are not harmful but their presence in large numbers means the tank may not be getting enough frequent cleanings. Planaria are harmless scavengers that feed on leftover food and waste in the aquarium. They often thrive in a tank unnoticed in small numbers. But if the nutrient levels in the tank rise their population can explode into numbers uncountable. They are especially a common problem in tanks with a high bioload such as oscar tanks.

The best thing way to get rid of these worms is to increase your water changes to 50% every to every other day for a while until the worm population diminishes which may take several days. The extra water changes will remove the food sources that are keeping the worm population thriving and it also benefits the oscar himself because oscars-- like all fish, thrive on water changes.
Make sure to gravel vaccum thoroughly at each water change and make sure you aren't overfeeding.

Once the worms have gone you can go back to doing water changes a few times a week. You may find out you have to increase your maintenance schedule to keep nutrient levels down. For Oscars twice a week is perfect. But even more frequent water changes doesn't hurt and only does them good.

I really hope this helps and best wishes!!!
Karen~