white creatures! :o

[bubbles!]

mysterious white creatures have appeared in my boyfriend's freshwater tank and we have no idea what they are! my boyfriend suspects they're either from the food they've been feeding them or the plants in the tank. they look like itsy bitsy fishies. anyone know what they could be and if they are dangerous?

 

[Newman]

LOL @ mystery creatures.
They sound like theire worms to me. could be wrong. do they swim around or do they swim on the glass? how big are they? can you supply a pic of these? white creatures doesnt explain much. worms do move like fish...

But wait and see what more experience members of thsi forum have to say about this. If it was me i'd scrub and clean the tank, and start cycling again.

 

[bubbles!]

they mostly move up and downthe glass of the tank and sometimes on the pebbles. also, they seem to be eating the algae. they're about...

.

^^that big.

i can't provide a picture at the moment, sorry. =p

 

[Newman]

ooo i just realized what they were. they're flatworms. theyre ok for algae maintenance but you need to buy a fish that eats them. lol you dont want worms hanging around in your tank do you? i would guess a catfish like a cory would eat them.

They ar not harmful, but kinda annoying to look at.

 

[homebunnyj]

Here's a page with great pics of common aquarium pests. Now you'll be able to tell if you have planaria (flatworms) or something else.

They don't appear to have eyes, do they? in which case they would probably be fry.

 

[Newman]

I used to keep and rise black planaria from my freshman bio class lol, they were cool. splitting them in half and having them grow two heads or two tails was infinitely amusing.

 

[MissFishy]

They are likely planaria, they come from too much un-eaten food in the tank as well as lack of cleaning. They are harmless to the fish and will go away once you start cleaning the tank.

 

[bubbles!]

thank you for the help everyone. from what you guys have been saying it seems as if the white creatures are (hopefully) harmless. :]

@newman: haha would an algae-eating fish eat them? and that does sound quite amusing.

@homebunnyj: thanks, that page is definitely helpful! now if i remmeber correctly they do have eyes... but i'll take a look at them tomorrow to make sure. what are fry, baby fish?

@missfishy: that would be great if the were harmless, i sure hope so. XD

 

[stoddern]

I have Nematodes in my tank, to help combat this I have cut back on feeding and increased my substrate cleaning.

also my gourami seem to like eating them alot.

 

[homebunnyj]

If they are little fish-shaped things with eyes they are most likely baby fish (fry). If you want them to survive, make sure they have lots of hiding places such as fine-leaved plants (fake ones are fine). They can eat a bit of crushed flake food.

You should be able to identify them now from the pics on the pest web page.

 

[bmoraski]

Here's a page with great pics of common aquarium pests. Now you'll be able to tell if you have planaria (flatworms) or something else.

They don't appear to have eyes, do they? in which case they would probably be fry.

lol
thanks for the link Judy.
now im pretty sure i have pond snails.