White VERY SMALL "bugs" on tank sides?

[CPryor]

Hey all,

Just a question out of curiosity - I've had my betta tank for years now (6 years?) and every fall, I get an explosion of these little white bugs -very small; smaller than grains of sand. They move very slowly along the tank sides, and look like they're long and thin, moving like a centipede does, though I cant see if they have legs.

I have a non-filtered, heated, well-planted 5 gal.

I do extra water changes whenever I see them, but they've never hurt the fish in any way. They go away after winter gets underway, and stay away (or out of sight?) until the next fall. I've tried to figure out what they are for many years now, but every thing I find doesn't look right - wrong size or shape.

Any ideas to solve the mystery?

 

[Huro]

It may be a detritus worm, can you post a picture ?

 

[Mebbid]

There's tons of small bugs that get in the tanks. I have a huge number of copepods and flatworms in my shrimp breeding tank for example. The fish usually eat them and keep them under control.

 

[CPryor]

It may be a detritus worm, can you post a picture ?

I've never gotten a pic - my camera cant even pick up on them (a kodak easy share, about 100000 years old, in digital camera years) ....these things are TINY. You have to watch them move to even register them as living things.

 

[DiscusLvr]

Ive had this issue before too. I believe the are planaria. From what I've read they are due to dirty gravel. But everything I read says they are practically harmless to fish. Look up planaria worms on google and see if thats what you're talking about.

 

[Jmunroe]

Planaria. Feed less, gravel vac more and do more water changes. Reduce the left over food and waste and it will reduce their numbers until they are gone.

 

[CPryor]

Yuuuuckkkk...i see planaria once in awhile at work; makes my skin crawl! We always clean the tanks EXTRA when we see them. It's not what shows up in my tank, thankfully.

What i have moves differently; it doesn't move like an inchworm, but like a centipede....it's body does not seem to contract and expand. It's also MUCH smaller that the worms I see....I used a magnifying glass and still could not make out any details on them. I'm sure i'm not going crazy and looking at air bubbles or particles - for being so small, the move fast and can be seen with he naked eye if you look close.

I need a microscope!

 

[CPryor]

Hmmm.... I think "Huro" got it: looks like Detritus Worms...although it's hard to tell.

Weird thing is, they only show up when the weather outside turns cool. Guess I'll just need to be sure to up my water changes come this fall :/