Worm! And something else!

Ok. I am new to the hobby and I jumped in head first. But I am learning. I had an issue with worms in my other tanks and yes, thanks to helpful folks on the forum I eradicated the problem by not over feeding.
Now, a new problem. I have worms ( of all types) I. A tank with no fish. Brand new fluval plant substrate and gravel. Inplanted the tank by seed and I out a couple coo tools in. I also have Dragon stone. I will post pics. What are they? How did they get there? And how do I KILL then? There is one Mystery bug or worm or whatever it is. It looks like a white little fly and seems to flutter about? Wow. This is crazy

I had the same problem for a while and in the end as soon as I put fish in they just ate all of them...
Idk if this is the right way but..

Fishboy_Max said:

I had the same problem for a while and in the end as soon as I put fish in they just ate all of them...
Idk if this is the right way but..

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Any idea what the fluttering guy is? I'm scared they are flukes. The fish in my 60 gal flash every once in awhile. It's not constant. But it worries me.

I believe there is a pest identification thread,
I believe this is it. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/hitchhikers-in-freshwater-tanks-ponds.277805/
It may help you.

"Inplanted the tank by seed and I out a couple coo tools in."

I'm not sure what this means, but if you had worms in other tanks, you more than likely transferred some...

Not sure what they are, but nothing in those photos or description alarms me. You used a plant substrate, did you also add live plants to the tank? Transfer anything from any of your other tanks into this one?

Don't be in a hurry to kill them. Remember that what you're setting up here is an ecosystem, not a sterile lab environment. All of our tanks, especially healthy established tanks, have micro-critters of all sorts in them, and most of them are harmless. Many get eaten by the fish, help break down organics into mulm etc, and do no harm at all. My healthiest tank has seed shrimp, tiny detritus worms (which I think I see in your photos) and other stuff in there, the fluttering one you described sounds as though it might be daphnia, a water flea. Again, harmless, and actually a great food source! My tiny newborn pygmy fry seem to largely live on them. They come in by being transferred by my other tanks, via the water, via plants I've added.

When you say that you had a worm problem before that you solved by not over-feeding, I'm guessing you mean that you saw a lot of detritus worms and got worried? Because the types of harmful, parasitic, internal worms that fish can have do need medication to be eradicated. But detritus worms found in the substrate are not harmful and don't need to be killed. They're fine and helpful while down in the substrate, and we just usually don't see them. But seeing a bunch of them climbing the glass or gathering on some old food is definitely a sign that you're feeding too much, since it means there is a lot of leftover food going to waste and causing a population boom in the detritus worm colony. Solving it means cutting back on feeding and increasing cleaning the susbtrate, but not eradicating the worms completely, since they're harmless, helpful and not usually even visible. So they're also a helpful warning system there, and they're no harm to the fish at all.

When you say you're worried that they might be flukes, do you mean gill flukes? I hope that this makes sense and reassures you! @Colin_T and @AbbeysDad have been very helpful with issues like this before.

Slaphppy7 said:

"Inplanted the tank by seed and I out a couple coo tools in."

I'm not sure what this means, but if you had worms in other tanks, you more than likely transferred some...

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I'm concerned about the seed too. Lots of scammy items on amazon claiming to be aquatic plant seeds, people plant them in their tanks, they start to grow, then die back because obviously, they're normal, outdoor grasses and not aquatic plants, then the tank crashes.... Also really hard to remove since they're tiny seeds mixed into the substrate...
OP, what seeds did you use, and where did you get them? Because most aquarium plants don't seed. We don't grow them from seed, because they aren't propagated that way either. The plants grow from a bulb, a rihzome, or cuttings from an older plant... so we buy small plants, plants grown in-vitro, or cuttings of stem plants.

Slaphppy7 said:

"Inplanted the tank by seed and I out a couple coo tools in."

I'm not sure what this means, but if you had worms in other tanks, you more than likely transferred some...

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I edited my post. Sorry. I should learn to proof read before posting. I'm just a 45 y/o construction worker from Florida. I'm happy I can figure out how to participate in the forum.

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

I'm concerned about the seed too. Lots of scammy items on amazon claiming to be aquatic plant seeds, people plant them in their tanks, they start to grow, then die back because obviously, they're normal, outdoor grasses and not aquatic plants, then the tank crashes.... Also really hard to remove since they're tiny seeds mixed into the substrate...
OP, what seeds did you use, and where did you get them? Because most aquarium plants don't seed. We don't grow them from seed, because they aren't propagated that way either. The plants grow from a bulb, a rihzome, or cuttings from an older plant... so we buy small plants, plants grown in-vitro, or cuttings of stem plants.

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I got the seeds from Amazon. I posted a link in another thread. Believe it are not, the plants are thriving. They are long and dwarf cow hair grass. And coleus, lucky leaf and love grass. EMYGardens Live Aquarium Grass...EMYGardens Live Aquarium Grass... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y5M39K8/?tag=ff0d01-20 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y5M39K8/?tag=ff0d01-20

Floridapierce78 said:

I got the seeds from Amazon. I posted a link in another thread. Believe it are not, the plants are thriving. They are long and dwarf cow hair grass. And coleus, lucky leaf and love grass. EMYGardens Live Aquarium Grass...EMYGardens Live Aquarium Grass... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y5M39K8/?tag=ff0d01-20 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y5M39K8/?tag=ff0d01-20

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Any chance you could share a photo please?
I'm still wary... I don't recognise those names as usual aquarium plants, and I saw someone who had grown a ton of grass from seeds like that in their tank, and it looked absolutely beautiful for a while! Long sweeping grasslands, but underwater. Then the grass all died back, spiking ammonia, killing the fish, and they had to tear down the tank entirely and bin the substrate to get rid of it all...

I hope that isn't the case here, I really do! But since seeing that person's experience and the photos, has made me very wary of those things. Have also seen a lot of people sold non-aquatic plants that eventually die back in the tank. @Byron @Colin_T and @Wills know a lot more about this kinda stuff than I do.
I hope you feel better about all the micro organisms you're spotting at least Just think of them as free fish food

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Any chance you could share a photo please?
I'm still wary... I don't recognise those names as usual aquarium plants, and I saw someone who had grown a ton of grass from seeds like that in their tank, and it looked absolutely beautiful for a while! Long sweeping grasslands, but underwater. Then the grass all died back, spiking ammonia, killing the fish, and they had to tear down the tank entirely and bin the substrate to get rid of it all...

I hope that isn't the case here, I really do! But since seeing that person's experience and the photos, has made me very wary of those things. Have also seen a lot of people sold non-aquatic plants that eventually die back in the tank. @Byron @Colin_T and @Wills know a lot more about this kinda stuff than I do.
I hope you feel better about all the micro organisms you're spotting at least Just think of them as free fish food

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Sure, I can use all the help I can get!

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Any chance you could share a photo please?
I'm still wary... I don't recognise those names as usual aquarium plants, and I saw someone who had grown a ton of grass from seeds like that in their tank, and it looked absolutely beautiful for a while! Long sweeping grasslands, but underwater. Then the grass all died back, spiking ammonia, killing the fish, and they had to tear down the tank entirely and bin the substrate to get rid of it all...

I hope that isn't the case here, I really do! But since seeing that person's experience and the photos, has made me very wary of those things. Have also seen a lot of people sold non-aquatic plants that eventually die back in the tank. @Byron @Colin_T and @Wills know a lot more about this kinda stuff than I do.
I hope you feel better about all the micro organisms you're spotting at least Just think of them as free fish food

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Do these look like the plants you were referring to?

Floridapierce78 said:

Sure, I can use all the help I can get!

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Yep, sorry man, still concerned! I think you've been misled, and that these super cheap amazon seeds are a scam They package and send you normal, non-aquatic grasses or other plants that seed easily, but aren't what they claim to be. The risks are that it won't be what you wanted, and since they're usually not truly aquatic plants, they can do well for a while, then die back horribly and crash the tank

This video might help:

Hopefully helpful links to read in the meantime:


Since you've already planted it up, see how it goes! It does look nice, especially that tall one So my suggestion would be to keep a close eye on all the plants, and on your water parameters (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate etc), and if plants start to die back, remove them as soon as you can, since a lot of plants dying in a tank at the same time can produce ammonia. Now that you're aware of the risks, you can monitor it and catch it if it does die back, and be prepared to move the fish out and re-scape the tank if the worst happens.

Floridapierce78 said:

Do these look like the plants you were referring to?

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I'm not sure, I'm sorry! There are so many similar looking grass species! lol. @Wills or @Stan510 are more likely to know, hopefully they can give their thoughts!

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

I'm not sure, I'm sorry! There are so many similar looking grass species! lol. @Wills or @Stan510 are more likely to know, hopefully they can give their thoughts!

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I forgot to mention I had to plant the seeds and wait for the dwarf grass to grow to about half an inch. Then add water.so, I didn't plant the seeds in an filled aquarium.