Tiny white worms on glass?? bacteria?

[20gallonguy]

I have a 20 gallon that is about to hit its 5th week of life. I have a couple small oscars (ill transplant as they get bigger) and some catfish and a knight goby.

Everything seems to have cycled perfectly now and i keep the water changed and the algae cleaned off the glass (plus i have an algae destroyer liquid i use a little of). Well just the past few days there has been a mass of tiny "air bubbles" floating in the tank. so i turned off the filters to see if they dissapaited (i was thinking maybe there was an air leak in one of my 2 filters). BUT the "air bubbles" stayed. so i figured its a bacteria bloom. i wasnt worried i knew that wasnt a bad thing and i would just keep an eye on it. WELL last night i started seeing tiny little "worms" floating in the water, white colored. and they are now on the glass. they slowly move around. they are very very tiny but they are definatly alive! anyone know what these are?

thanks for the help. i searched on tons of forums and sites to try to find the answer and couldnt. hopefully yall have a suggestion or some usefull info for me =)

 

[tkos]

Probably just nematodes. They are harmless but generallly mean that there is some sort of excess fodd source for them. Keep up with the water changes and they will start to go away.

 

[20gallonguy]

yeah ive been feeding the fish alot =)

i just cant resist those cute oscars =)

what are nematodes?

 

[Allivymar]

There was a similar post in Wetwebmedia; I'll cut n paste my responses (easier then typing them again LOL):

Came across this from fishdoc.net:
"Numerous small white worms writhing in the water and or on the glass are NOT pathological. I'll tell you that first, so you can relax. They're jsut unsightly and they tell you something about the cleanliness of the tank. (Tank with big eaters in it, right?)

They're a saprophytic nematode or worm, that simply indicate that uneaten food is being allowed to accumulate in the system, either in the gravel, or in other out-of-the-way places.
The best treatment is a good tank overhaul and cleaning! <grin>
Treatments otherwise usually would involve Formalin, Potassium permanganate, Copper, or an organophosphate. None of these is particulary safe or "lightly" entered into.
Better than that, I would recommend getting a small goldfish or gourami, as both species relish eating these worms. Once the worms are down to reasonable numbers, you can move the goldfish to a bowl, or whatever.
The worms are most often seen in Newt tanks, Oscar tanks, or crab/intertidal systems where animals live that eat "chunks" of meat. In tropical community tanks the worms are rare, because as earlier stated, the smaller fish like to munch on the worms, which is of no detriment to them at all. (The fish that is! <grin>)

If you cannot use a scavenger fish, then simply siphoning off some water every week, along with a siphon-cleaning of the gravel will help immeasurably to reduce the worm burden in a tank.

I do NOT advocate the use of caustic formalin compounds, or dangerous copper compounds for these worms."

IMHO, I wouldn't advise sticking a goldfish in there, then popping it into a bowl after, but thats me. Theres a website I found devoted to the lil buggers as well: http://nematode.unl.edu/wormgen.htm Yuck.

Actually, I discovered I had nematodes in my tank as well; bout a half inch long and living in my gravel. They don't bother me, I don't bother them and the clown loaches find them delectable.

 

[20gallonguy]

awesome thanks alot. BTW do clown loaches go well in an oscar tank?

 

[tkos]

Not in a 20 gallon tank. They get to be 8 inches plus, require lots of room to swim and generally like to be in groups. So you will need some much bigger. If you get like a 75 gallon tank or so with plants and caves then you probably won't have a problem.

 

[20gallonguy]

i have a 55 gallon setup that use to be my saltwater setup a few yrs back. Im gonna move the Oscars there once they get bigger and i have the cash to get it up and running again.

 

[tkos]

Be careful. I have never kept Oscars but I hear that you can only keep 1 Oscar in a 55 gallon tank due to aggression. You might want to ask that question to cichlid people or else you might end up with a dead oscar.

 

[20gallonguy]

the 2 oscars i have are practically in love with each other =) they have been together since they were REALLY tiny. and they are really affectionate to each other.......so i dont think ill have a problem.

i hope =) would be sad if they fought =(

 

[20gallonguy]

one is a tiger and the other is an albino tiger....Fred and wilma =)

id link a pic but i dont know how to do that.

 

[20gallonguy]

i figured out how to link but my digital camera has dead batteries =([/img]

 

[JeffNebraska]

Interesting info on the worms. I have never seen any in my tank, but I do notice my three Gouramis like to spend time chomping at the surface of the water. They appear to be healthy in every regard and none of my other fish act that way, so I just chalked it up to a behavioral quirk. Maybe they're actually eating these things.

 

[20gallonguy]

yeah i would never even notice them cause they are so tiny! But since i had so many and no fish that ate them they started clouding my tank.

Ive done another water change and have been feeding my fish less and i seen the number of worms diminishing ALOT. =)

 

[TankGirl]

Yes, these are basically harmless and are a great indicator that your water quality is taking a little dip. If you increase your water changes for the time being they should disappear. Do you have a gravel vac? The excess food that accumulates will feed these buggers, so sit and watch the fish to see how much they are actually eating to reduce waste. You may need to do a water change every 3-4 days of about 15-20% to initially control them, and thereafter once a week. These fish are big waste producers so fast-tracking the 55-gal should be job one; they will grow quickly. In my experience with oscars, the fish they grow up with they will usually tolerate in the long run, so hopefully you will have a happy couple. Good luck!

 

[Allivymar]

LOL I do water changes 2-3 times a week and those buggers still showd up. Apparently they're ubiquitous; somewhere in that nematode webpage it states if you got rid of everything in the world, you would still know where the living stuff had been cause there would be outlines of it all in nematodes.

*shiver* Yuck.

 

[TankGirl]

They are present in just about everyone's tanks but we usually don't notice them. If they are noticeable then cutting back on feeding will usually do the trick. I can't remember exactly but it seems to me there is some type of fish or loach or something that will eat them. Maybe mollies. I think also certain types of fry find them delicious!

 

[tkos]

I caught my Betta once eating some nematodes. And all of the bottom feeders will take chomp on them (cories love them). But the fact that they are present is generally the sign it is time to clean the tank!!

 

[TankGirl]

But the fact that they are present is generally the sign it is time to clean the tank!!

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Allivymar]

In my case I didn't know I had them at first; I didn't have the little ones which are all over the tank walls and water column. I initially thought those inch long things coming up from the gravel were broken plant roots. Heh, that theory went out the door the day I discovered they were moving. They've just about disappeared now; saw one last gravel vac, but I attribute that to the clown loaches. They would spend hours flinging gravel out of the way to get to the nematodes.

LOL And I'm lazy; 2-3 gravel vacs/water changes a week is enough for me. The ones I have are not visible cause they live in the gravel, and they provide a live food for my loaches as well. So I leave em be.

 

[tkos]

There will always be a few around no matter how well the tank is cleaned. You just don't want the walls crawling with them. Yuck!