Tiny White Specks Crawling On The Glass !

[keinert]

I've been loosing Discus for a few weeks. Today I noticed something on the glass that looked like algee starting to grow. When I looked very closely, they are moving! Very tiny, barely visable, white in color, they look like a worm but are thin as a human hair and only a few thousands of an inch long. Any ideas???
Thanks, Kevin.

[Kindredspirit]

Kevin ~

They cld be Planaria ~ they usually arise by improper housekeeping ~ You shld clean your tank ~ rinse the filters and wipe down the inside of your tank as well ~ you may be over feeding as well and do you use a prefilter?

It wld be very helpful if you cld provide some more information: such as how big is your tank ~ how many discus ~ size ~ age ~ how long have you had them? What do they look like? How often do you do wc? Do you have sand or bare bottom? And very important your water parameters~

I do apologize for all the questions but try to gather what you can and I am sure someone will be along to better assist you ~


Hang in there!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

[AmberC]

It does sound like planaria. The planaria themselves are not really a problem for the fish, but they come about.. as Marie said.. from overfeeding and or poor water quality. Over feeding can cause dirt water so maybe thats all that came about. What is your w/c routine?

Amber

[keinert]

Hi All,
It's a bare bottom tank. 30% water change 3 times per week, 6.9PH 88 deg. Zero Amon or Nitrites. Filter rinsed 2 times each week. Let's assume a clean tank, what harmful parasites could they be?

[keinert]

Hi Again,
I don't think they are Planaria. I have a 300x microscope. They look like a tube, move like a worm and they may have a sucker type opening at one end (hard to tell, I don't see an actual mouth or teeth), they don't have "eyes" or internal organs like the Planaria pictures that I find when I do a "Google Images" search for Planaria.

[Kindredspirit]

Hi Again,
I don't think they are Planaria. .






http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=45367&highlight=planaria




Marie~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_4_11.gif

[hexed]

Kevin,
Hi Welcome to Simply!

The tiny white specs you see are Planaria. To get rid of them you want to take a clean sponge and wipe the entire inside of the tank and then vacuum it out. You want to also clean the filters. It is best to put a prefilter on your intake tube of the filter as well. This will stop most of the uneaten food from going into the filter. Planaria is caused by what they said above: over feeding, not enough water changes (it is best to do 50% daily) and food and debris in the filter media. Wiping down the inside of the tank and doing daily water changes is the easiest way to get rid of them. Rinse your filter media inside a bucket of tank water so you do not uncycle it. Wipe the inside of the filter with a sponge. Planaria like smooth surfaces like glass and plastic (inside of the filter).
If you have any more questions please ask.
Frank

[Tony_S]

Let's assume a clean tank, what harmful parasites could they be?

Planaria can show up even in a 'clean' tank....although not as commonly. They're strange little critters.....Normally, once they're cleaned up, they dont return(in any numbers) provided you keep a fairly clean tank.

Tony

[BIGFOOT]

Planaria can show up even in a 'clean' tank....although not as commonly. They're strange little critters.....Normally, once they're cleaned up, they dont return(in any numbers) provided you keep a fairly clean tank.

Tony


I know this is a fact after keep a very clean tank for weeks. I let the tank go on no water changes and only feed fish for 24 hours (to see what would happen). The next morning I woke up to planaria.

[Kindredspirit]

I know this is a fact after keep a very clean tank for weeks. I let the tank go on no water changes and only feed fish for 24 hours (to see what would happen). The next morning I woke up to planaria.


Brian so you did it on purpose? Do I even wanna know how long you went w/o a wc?:confused:


Marie~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_4_11.gif

[BIGFOOT]

Sure did!!!!! See post #9 Were it saids for 24 hours no water change.