New to the hobby and in need of help

[qwertie]

Hi there!

So after watching and researching about planted tanks on the internet I've decided start one myself. I've bought the substrate, rocks, driftwood and plants to use in the tank and have cleaned them (boiled the driftwood, washed the sand, scrubbed the rocks, washed plants with hydrogen peroxide etc.). However just 2 weeks in, (cycling the tank without fish, but there some pest snails) there are these weird white worm-like things that have showed up my tank that the internet did not prepare me for. I don't know what these are and do not know how to handle them and really hope I can get some answers here. I plan on making this a betta's home so I hope that everything in this tank will be safe for the betta.

Just some more info, the white things suddenly appeared on the surfaces of the plants and driftwood overnight. However, they dont seem to be moving or anything, and theyre way thicker than the detritus worms (which are also present in the tank).

If anyone has any idea on what these are, if theyre dangerous for the tank and how to get rid of them please lmk! Thank you!

 

[GaryE]

I've seen them, but don't know what they are. I assumed insect larvae. They came, they saw, they vanished fairly quickly and harmlessly. Stuff happens in a tank. A Betta splendens would probably eat them.

 

[Aqua67]

I think they are called rhabdocoela worms. Just do an internet search on them. I agree with GaryE above, a betta probably would eat them.

 

[PewPewChris]

I think the above issue is half the fun in keeping fish or mini-ecosystems as I like to refer to them. I'm a novice myself, but keeping the fish and plants happy and watching how they change/interact (both for the good and the bad) is what makes it intriguing to me.

As others above have said, things come with the live things you buy, rinsing or not...I've got many a pest snail in my first tank that I am now finding and pulling to put in my quarantine tank, that happens to house an assassin snail.