Oh no! - do I have some creepy crawlies in there now??

Question
Hi Chris,

I'm new to aquarium ownership and wanted to do everything right for the one betta I wanted to own.

Got an eclipse 6 system and originally had regular gravel, a silk plant and a fake rock cave. Set it up, had a master test kit, all levels were perfect, etc. Well, the original fish I got developed ich and died 3 days after I got him. I tried using aquarium salt to cure it instead of chemicals, but the second day he just wasn't right and in the morning he was dead. :-(

So... I dumped everything out, got rid of the gravel, cleaned out the tank well and let it sit for a couple of weeks. Then I decided I'd do it even better this time and get live plants. I got eco-complete substrate and quality plants from an online shop.

Just got home from work and as I was checking out my tank, cleaning out some plant bits and all, I noticed there were some tiny white bits on the front glass. hmmm...

As I looked at them it appeared as if some of them were moving. At first I thought well, maybe they're just bits of dirt/plant matter, going with the filter flow, but then one was going AWAY from the filter flow, kind of in a jerky motion. One appeared to swim towards the middle of the tank. I'm checking the tank now and I see one or two appearing to swim along the glass and in the tank.

Do you know what this is? What should I do? Fortunately I don't have a fish in there now. I'm really upset, as I spent a lot of money on Eco-complete substrate and plants and a new bio wheel filter. I've been letting the tank run for about a week and was planning on getting a betta during the week some time.

Do I have to dump everything out? Can I kill whatever it is without getting rid of everything? Can you get ich without having a fish in there? I completely cleaned out the tank, got rid of the biowheel and carbon filters and regular gravel after my first boy had it. The tank also sat completely dry for almost two weeks.

HELP!!

Answer
Hi Norma;

They are probably just planaria or a nematode that fed on the excess waste that was in there. They are not harmful to your fish. Just a symptom of the overfeeding/overcrowding that went on before. Those little critters can survive some pretty serious cleaning (even bleach!) so don't knock yourself out trying to get rid of them. They aren't going to hurt your fish. Low waste is the only way to keep them under control. This means really limit your feedings once you do get fish in there. Many tanks have them, we just don't see them until things have gotten out of control.

The tank is pretty small for anything but a betta and maybe a couple of little catfish or a big snail to help with cleaning. But, not all those fish can go in at once. It has to go through the break-in so you want to add only one small fish and that's all for the first 6 to 8 weeks. There is more about that on my web page;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins