Tiny white things in my freshwater snail tank

Question
Hello Karen, I just noticed that my freshwater snail tanks (apple snails, ramshorn, trumpet,and pond snails as well as a few live plants) are infested with white, almost microscopic, little creatures. None of them are much bigger than a grain of sand. I also noticed that the tank with the most of these things smells a ton better than the one with only a few. What are these things? Do they help keep the water clean? Most importantly, will they harm me or my snails?
                           Thanks for your time,
                                        LouAnn

Answer
Hi LouAnn, those little creatures are most certainly nematodes. These critters are usually present in all aquarium to some extent, they are noticeable when there is an abundance of foOd for them and they come up and out of the gravel feasting on it. They may crawl on everything from the aquarium sides, plants, rocks, gravel and even any fish or in your case, your snails. Luckily, they are not parasites and will not harm aquatic life in the aquarium. They are, however, a sign that your aquarium water might be a little rich in nutrients. There must be too much waste generated by the snails to cause such a population explosion of the tiny nematodes. The simple answer to this is either-- try to thin out your snail population OR do much more frequent water changes to try to eliminate the cause of the nematode animals. If your aquariums with the nematodes smells nicer than the ones with a few, they must be eliminating a lot of the pollution in your tanks. Either way, you shouldn't have to depend on these creatures to do regular maintenance routines and you should probably increase the amount and frequency of the water changes you do weekly.

Just remember these creatures are harmless. They are a sign however that you probably need to change your water more frequently--including good gravel vaccummings, or try to thin out your snail population if possible.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to email me...~

Best of luck and happy fishkeeping! I hope this helps!!!
Happy holidays!
Karen~