cloudy water and worms

Question

-------------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I have a 29 gallon tank with only guarmies of varying types in it. I have an apple snail and shrimp. My fiance did a water change on it, but he did it with out my help and took out almost 80% of the water. Now, I have a cloudy tank and I've noticed worms, or something that looks like worms in the tank. From what I can see, I don't think anything is wrong with my fish, but, it's hard to tell. The filter clogged the day after the water change and it had an orangey color to it. I don't know what happened and I need some help!!!
-----Answer-----
Hi Tina,
Doing an 80% water change probably killed nearly all the beneficial bacteria. I would not recommend anymore than 50%. The cloudy appearance of the water is caused by changing too much water and causing the tank to go through the cycling process again. I would do daily water changes of 20% to try and get the tank to build up more benficial bacteria. The worms are probably planaria which is caused by too much uneaten food left in the substrate. Be sure to check your water readings every day whilst doing daily water changes. Try and add some benficial bacteria from another tank to help the tank re-gain bacteria.

Good luck!
Chloe.

Chloe,
The planaria, are they harmful to my fish? I did a 20% water change yesterday, and it seemed to help with the cloudiness, but my filters are clogging a couple times a day. They are also yellowy-orange in appearance. Should I be worried about that, or is that to be expected?

Tina

Answer
Hi Tina,
Planaria worms are not harmful to fish. If your filter is clogging this could indicate a problem with too many fish or a filter that is not effective enough for your size tank. A yellow-orange filter is probably an indicator of bad water quality. Keep up on the daily water changes and test your water.

Regards,
Chloe.