White Things In My Tank

[hamesy]

Hey guys, I'm not really sure that they are, but there are little white things crawling about on the glass. When I say little I really do mean little and they are slightly worrying me. Another thing thats got me worried it last weekend I lost a female guppy and now another female is showing roughly the same symptoms. She's on the surface of the water hiding just behind the pump. Any ideas what wrongs or these little white creatures are?

Thanks

 

[forby3]

I'm pretty sure these are planaria, which are flatworms and members of the Platyhelminthes phylum. Planaria are often found in aquariums with uneaten food. The planaria won't hurt the fish, but they are a symptom of too much gravel containing too much uneaten food, and that is not good for fish.

Uneaten food causes all sorts of problems, and uneaten food in your aquarium may have been part of the reason that your guppie died

 

[hamesy]

Cheers for that. Is it just a case of giving the tank a good clean out to remove the left over food?

 

[JoshuaA]

Cheers for that. Is it just a case of giving the tank a good clean out to remove the left over food?

Give the gravel a good vacuum whilst do a few big water changes and just make sure you don't over feed. AFAIK the planaria will also be eaten by fish... I had massive amounts of planaria during a cycle and when I finished an added fish even after doing a 100% change!! There was tons... within days the population had gone from extremely noticeable to not seeing any at all anymore... hungry hungry fish haha.

Good Luck