buggies in the gravel

[angel51431]

I've found these things living in my gravel. Okay, not exactly - I've found two different things living in my gravel. One would be, as I've determined, planaria (little white worm thingies that wiggle around the water when I disturb the gravel). I'm not quite sure what the other things are. They look like these tiny little brown beetles, but they look slightly smaller than 1 mm in diameter. Occasionally, they come out and walk all over the decorations and the sand-covered portion of the tank (the substate is gravel on one side and sand on the other). Any ideas on what they are, and how harmful they can be?

 

[Paul]

I think your pretty safe. I had a bad case of nematods in my 75 awhile back. just keep up on your vacuuming and ensure that they aren't attacking your fish. If your tank becomes over run you could have problems down the road with excess waste from both fish and bugs. Depending on the type of fish you have they may eat the bugs actually. Mine did.

 

[Wormo3188]

Does anyone know if any of these organisms could be harmful to the fish as well as the humans who take care of these aquariums?

 

[Paul]

Not usually. The best way to identify them is to catch a few and take them to the LFS. If they have a good fish person on the payroll. Then he/she should be able to identify your bugs, and tell you if they are harmful or not.