Little worms suspended in water

[Zongyi]

Ok, heres how the scenario whent. when i woke up today, i found my neons acting suspiciously weird. they werernt huddled up in there little group, but where chasing each other frantically around the aquarium. they also lost there usual shine and seem paler. 2 of the neons (out of 6) are just sitting there and hiding, while 4 are around the tank nibbling at each other and charging at the glass.

i did a water test, and everything was pretty normal. but as i watched, my eyes focused onto the water and i say little dust like particles suspended in the water. i turned off the filter and the bubble thingy so that they particles would stay still, only to find the things are alive. i managed to suck one up with a air tube and put it under a microscope. it looked like a little worm.

anyone know how to get rid of them or tell me how they got there?


so heres the things that changed in the past few days:
put peat in the filter cartrage

noticed some crystals froming a crust over heater, but hardiness isnt high.

weird acting of neons

one bloated female neon

flowering of water plants

lowering temp of 2 degrees


can anyone help me in identifying and killing these little worms? they are visiable to the eye, about 1mm to a half a mm in lenth. they are white and float in the water. some stick to the glass. i cant get a picture of them, but they have a bulbos head. heres a crude demonstration:
O=====
thats what they looked like exept they were all twirling. thanks for the time. Zongyi

[Leopardess]

Look up planaria and nematodes. There are several threads here if you use AC's search feature. They're not harmful to fish - just indicate excess wastes in the substrate. Frequent gravel vac-ing/water changing will get rid of them. Many fish will eat them. Generally, any worms you see that are free swimming (meaning not on/or coming out of a fish) are not detrimental (directly) to those fish. Any parasitic types of worms need a host to live. If they are free swimming, they don't have a host and so probably aren't parasitic:)

[Zongyi]

thank you for your help. the neons have their colors returned, probably because they turned off their color things as some books say thay can do. tho 2 of the 4 are still dashing madly at other fishes and at each other, and those 2 are still dull in color. i dont know why they are attacking each other, but they may be stressed or something. 3 of the rest of the fish are just hiding, and are actually attacking the last fish if they go anywhere near them. they are now not in a school anymore, but scattered around the tank. the other fish dont seem to be effected and are quite normal. so can anyone guess to the neons wild frenzies? Zongyi

[Zongyi]

Ok, i have checked the older posts on the search feature. i am probably feeding way to much as some of it does get left behind. they also recommended adding goramis (spelling?). i was told earlyer to remove my whiptail catfish as its a large bioload. by removeing the catfish, do you think i can add a couple of goramis? Zongyi

[Copper]

That depends. How big is your tank, do you have any other fish besides the neons and the cat?

If the cat is adding more of a load than your tank could handle, removing it may only alleviate enough to bring it to normal, and adding more fish may put it back over the top. IMO, it's overfeeding. If there are more remains than even the cat can scoop up.

You might try reducing your feeding, or even fasting the tank for a few days, and give your gravel a good vacuuming to remove any excess waste.

I am currently battling this problem as well.

[Zongyi]

hello. i currently have a 20g tank with:
6 neons
1 whiptail cat
5 glass catfish
8-10 ghost shrimp

i know its already full, but would removing the whiptail make enough room to add 2 dwarf goramis? i plan to fast the tank for a day and feed less after that.

also, i have a problem with 2 neons. they are now acting very strange while the rest of the 4 neons have joined back into a school. these 2 are chasing and biting each other and the other neons, and they have lost their shine. one has lost soo much of its blue color that at certain points, you cant see it any more. is this neon tetra deasease? i never knew i could act that fast (only been half a day since its been noticed). Zongyi

[StreetCypher]

if i remember correctly, whiptails grow quite large. The glass catifish will grow to about 4 inches each. I think you are almost at capacity. If anything the ghost shrimp should have helped by scavanging the leftover food.

I'm not sure about the neon problem

[Zongyi]

so if i remove the whiptail, could i add a couple of dwarf goramis?

i think the neon problem is fixed now. even tho i promised to fast, i fed them for the last time today. well, they ate about every flake there was. about 30min after that, i found the rode neons had their colors returned and the small school had rejoined in peace. dont know why tho, but at least its fized :D . Zongyi

[kikuchiyo]

You'd need one dwarf or three; one individual or one male and two females. Two males won't get along and with one male and one female, I believe the female will get stressed out from all the attention.

[Copper]

IMHO, I would take out the whiptail and leave it at that. The bio-load is a bit overdone now, and taking out one cat to add 1-3 gouramis isn't going to fix the problem. You might be able to get away with a smaller bottom feeder, but a lot of them are pretty good poop-machines.

If you are only wanting to add gouramis to help deal with the nematodes, I wouldn't. Clean your gravel more, and feed less. After just 2 cleanings, my 'tode problem is drastically improved.

Glad to hear your neons survived.

[Zongyi]

looks like im getting a 50g this sat or so. i think i will leave the catfish in there until then. i haven't fed since yesterday, and did a few water changes. i woke up this morning to find that there numbers have dropped. i only see them occasionally now. im going to keep an eye on the tank for their return, and fast the fish until saturday (they are pecking at plants now).

looks like i need to put off the goramis until my new tank is settled. thanks for all the help :) . Zongyi