My Freshwater Tank

Question
Karen,
Recently I set up a 10 gallon freshwater tank. In it I put two blue paradise fish, two gala sharks, and two tiger barbs. Although it was a bit crowded everyone seemed content. At first I had an under gravel filter in the tank. The tubes and air stones got so clogged so quick that I decided to shell out the money and buy a power filter. When i was changing to the new filter I noticed these tiny white worms all over the lid. They are white with black heads and black tips of their tails. I was told by another "fish expert" just to wipe them away and that it would be alright becuase they were probably terestrial but they keep coming back! They seem to die when they come out of the water. Also my uncle gave me a 7 year old red eye tetra that he didn't want to flush. The tetra has a green fungus I think...what is that? Also About a week ago one of my paradise fish became really bloated and then started hanging around the bottom of the tank. He turned a really dark (almost black) color and He died the next day. I was wondering if it was because of the worms? are they parasites? and my third problem (i know! what a mess!) one of my tiger barbs eyes are swollen and protruding! It just keeps getting more and more swollen. What do I do! I hope you can help me with all this becuase I am freaking out here!
Sammy

Answer
Hi Samantha,
The worms are likely a harmless scavenging type animal in your tank. There are many species of worms and other tiny animals that can get into your tank. They themselves are harmless but the reason they are there is a definite cause for concern. When you have worms and sickly fish, it makes me think that your tank may not be getting enough maintenance.

If this were my tank, I'd do start a very aggressive water change/tank maintenance schedule. It depends on how long the tank has gone without a water change. If its been more than 3-4 weeks then do small 20% water changes everyday on the aquarium and vacuum the gravel with your tank siphon -really well- see if you can siphon up the worms as you go. Repeat this everyday and after about 5 days I'd start doing 50% everyday.
If the tank has relatively new water in it and it hasn't been too long since a water change then go ahead and start doing 50% daily. I noticed you had the tank setup recently but you didn't say exactly when... One thing that could be a  problem is your tank may not be cycled if it hasn't been setup for more than 4-6 weeks. Beneficial bacteria may not be established yet and since they are the ones responsible for taking care of the ammonia and nitrite --- you could have some bad water quality problems going on. Testing your water would be a sure way to know. Ideally you should have a ZERO reading for ammonia and nitrites but if the tank's still cycling you may have an ammonia spike that can be very deadly to your fish. If you need more help on tank cycling look here-
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

I think you need to look at your maintenance of the tank and please try to test the water...Most important start doing daily water changes. As for the Tiger Barb's eyes being swollen, this is the sure sign of either a bacterial infection or bad water quality. Two very good article here explains about popeye-
http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/popeye.php

http://www.flippersandfins.net/pop-eye.htm

I'm sorry to hear about all the trouble you have with your fish. I really hope you can get all your problems solved!

Best wishes and I hope this helps!
Karen~