We have a problem....

Ok guys, I need help. So I have this 5 gallon filtered/heated shrimp/snails tank. Water parameters are all in order, and the filter is running smoothly. It all started yesterday, cloudy water, weird white “Algae” etc. there are also these where worms that are creeping me out, in the picture it is kind of hard to see so I apologize for that....


All of those little white things are “Worms”. (Please identify)

Also, I recently have a HUGE boost in population on both my cherry shrimp and snails (Malaysian Trumpet Snails And Blue Rams Horn) as the picture shows....


Also, there was 1 dead shrimp this morning, but a ton of baby shrimp. Also, there is this weird super stringy white algae (I’m talking hair thin) on the planks, and substrate.


Please help me, I have no clue what’s going on....

Tagged people: @Colin_T @Byron @Deanasue

If the worms have a pointy arrow shaped head, they are planaria. If they are just a line like an I, they are detritus worms. Both of these normally live in the substrate or plants and only swarm when there is something wrong with the tank. Dirty gravel and poor water quality are the usual causes of them swarming onto the glass.

Malaysian livebearer snails should be killed on sight. They breed continuously in aquariums because they have no natural predators. They live in the substrate and you never see them unless there are thousands in the tank or something goes wrong, then they crawl out of the gravel and try to get out of the tank. They can't survive out of water so won't go anywhere.

No idea about the white algae, I need a close up pic of it. Use the macro setting on the camera and take a bunch of pics. Or use a high resolution (like 20MB), zoom in on the object and get some clear pictures, then crop them down so they fit on here.

Thank you for the fast response. The worms do have sort of a rounded “nose”. Here is the hair like algae....


As the can see, it is all over the Anacharis in the back. Should I prefom a 50% water change?

I can't see the white algae. DO a big water change and gravel clean the sand, see what happens. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence.

The red line is going to be right under the string of algae.


Do you see it now?

When I saw that in the original photo I assumed it was a root because it looks forked at the end. The plant that has the 'algae' does send out roots from the stem.......

I checked, it is not a root. I broke a small piece of it off just to see, and it was super easy to break....

That's the trouble with photos, only you can see and touch the actual plant

The strings are anacharis roots. Looks just like mine do. The worms are from dirty gravel. I noticed in your pic of the other tank that your gravel was dirty. Do a good cleaning and vacuum your gravel but be careful of those new baby shrimp. See, I told you if you got rid of the danio you would have babies. . Shrimp normally die from high nitrates or inability to molt. Drop a 1/4 piece of Tums in each week to provide calcium.

Aquariums, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship PheonixKingZ. It's five gallon mission: to seek out new worms and new algae. To boldly raise snails that no man has done before.

Deanasue said:

The strings are anacharis roots. Looks just like mine do. The worms are from dirty gravel. I noticed in your pic of the other tank that your gravel was dirty. Do a good cleaning and vacuum your gravel but be careful of those new baby shrimp. See, I told you if you got rid of the danio you would have babies. . Shrimp normally die from high nitrates or inability to molt. Drop a 1/4 piece of Tums in each week to provide calcium.

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Ok, thanks! So the worms should disappear after I do a gravel vacuum? And yes, you where right, I have counted 12 baby Shrimp!!!

Be very careful doing a water change. To be precise, be careful about throwing the old water away. Baby shrimps are very tiny and easily sucked up. Check the old water very carefully before throwing it away. It takes ages, but use a jug or something to ladle the water from the bucket (if that's what you use) and look at every jugful.

Colin_T said:

Malaysian livebearer snails should be killed on sight. They breed continuously in aquariums because they have no natural predators. They live in the substrate and you never see them unless there are thousands in the tank or something goes wrong, then they crawl out of the gravel and try to get out of the tank. They can't survive out of water so won't go anywhere.

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Please ignore this advice , it is based purely on personal opinion.
But if you have too many it supports what others have said about dirty substrate.

seangee said:

Please ignore this advice , it is based purely on personal opinion.
But if you have too many it supports what others have said about dirty substrate.

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I 100% agree!

I wouldn’t kill the, anyways, unless they got completely out of control.