Wierd larvae in tank?

[SilverDragon]

I have these wierd little white thread-like worm looking things in my tank and cant seem to get rid of them. My fish seem to love eating them and they arent bothering the fish at all. Ive given the tank several water changes, and a couple of complete overhauls... and still when I fill it back up, more of these things come out of the filter. Could they be brine shrimp larvae? Also theres a fine dust that gets severely kicked up when doing a gravel cleaning. The temp. in the tank is 77 F and pH is around 7.5.

I read that occasionally brine shrimp will hatch if the parameters are right, but this is a fresh water tank, not a salt water. Anyone have any clue what these are? Could they be inside the filter cartridge? Why dont they get any bigger? (they are about half a centimeter at most)

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sounds like white worms. Probably due to feeding too much. They won't harm anything, and the fish love them as well. I've never had the problem, so not sure how to get rid of them. I'm sure others will give ideas.

 

[SilverDragon]

Hmmm... thats interesting. Where do they come from? Are they in the food? Where can I find more info on them?

I didnt think I was feeding too much... I only feed once a day and I like to make sure enough goes to the bottom for the Catfish to eat, but maybe hes not eating as much as I thought.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If doing a gravel vac stirs things up, you need to do a more thorough gravel vac. Sounds like you still have a lot of waste in the gravel that needs to be cleaned up. I'm not sure exactly where they come from, but I've heard overfeeding will cause them to come out like that. Will see what others say here.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Where do they come from? Are they in the food? Where can I find more info on them?

You are seeing free swimming planaria. Microscopic worms that come in from the fish you add. Flatworms are found all over the place, they just usually never amount to anything visible because they are so small. Truth be told, they are always in your water, but usually die quickly with nothing to consume (ie: a clean tank). Once you kill their food source, you will kill them.

If you do any search for planaria or flatworms, I'm sure you will find a wealth of biological information on them.

To get rid of them, try feeding your fish every other day. No harm will come of the fish.

HTH