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I recently set up a tank and its been almost a week and I noticed these little white worms on the walls. They all very in length. I did some research and came up with something called planaria(sp?). Is it true they aren't harmful to the fish? And I read that they will die off if they have no food source (waste and non eaten fish food), but how would they even show up with no food source in the first place, there's no fish in the tank?

On another note I noticed something like dirt particles in the water. I mostly notice them on a PVC pipe I have as a cave. There like little dirt piles all over it and some on the drift wood. Is this anything to worry about? The tank is over filtered with an Aqua clear 70 and a Whisper 40 yet they wont budge. Any ideas of what this is?

Thanks,

tigermom

The little specks and dirt piles are the food of planaria. You haven't been cleaning your tank enough or have been addign too much fish food and have detritus sitting around the tank. Detritus is the leftovers of anything organic after it starts to break down ie fish waste and excess food that didn't get eaten. Did you have fish in the tank or are you adding fish food to cycle? Somehow something organic is getting in the tank and breaking down to create the detritus and planaria.

How big is the tank? Most filters are rated well below what I'd actually use them for. I aim for at least around 10x turnover or 100gph on a 10g unless there's some reason I want to minimize water movement. Also make sure your filters are placed in a good spot. If you cram them down at one end of a long tank the other end isn't going to see much water movement. The particles may also be too small for your filter media. Try getting some finer media and using that in the filters for awhile. You can get long rolls of media and then cut them to the size of the cartridges your aquaclear or whisper use and rubberband them on. Rubberbands will break down over time so replace frequently if your not just using them temporarily.

Okay thanks. I will be doing a water change tomorrow to get rid of detritus. You mentioned it comes from organic material which I was surprised. I have no fish in the tank, could it be from adding to much bacteria supplements or something? Well I will be right that WC in the am. I'm gonna scrap the walls,wood and pipe down as well. The tank is a 45 gallon. I read about stuff called filter floss that should help, If not ill be sure your use your idea.

Thanks for the quick response,

tigermom