>sigh< What's in my tank?

[Zenz]

Well, the tank was cycled and we did the big water change (about 80%). Now I see these white squiggly things "swimming" in the water. They are teeny tiny. I can't take a picture of them but they are small but definitely a life of their own swimming around. It's not a LOT of them, but they are there.

I asked my husband what bucket he used to refill the aquarium and he said it was a bucket that had been outside but he cleaned it with water and a clean rag...no detergents.

Any idea what this could be or what I should do?

We were going to finally add our fish tomorrow.

 

[Zenz]

Oh btw, the bucket was totally clean and dry and empty before he used it to fill the tank. It also had a lid on it. When I saw these things, the filter wasn't turned on yet. Now that it's on, I don't see them.

 

[msjinkzd]

it could be something like detritus worms or planaria. Fish will eat both of them and they are harmless.

 

[DAVIDFBT]

They probably got in your aquarium because of the lack of filtration. Now that they're gone, you shouldn't see them unless if you have bad water quality.

 

[jm1212]

planaria are usually on the glass of the tank and dont swim around. plus, they tend to be flat. if the worms you saw were threadlike and swimming around the tank, they were probably just detritus worms...more gravel vacs are needed IMO.

 

[SubluxT7]

My guess is nematodes. They are harmless. No worries.

SubluxT7:headbang2:

 

[Zenz]

Oooh yay!!!! Yes, they were mostly around the glass.

There has been no gravel vacuum because we have no fish. The water was really really bad though from cycling. We did an 80% water change and the nitrates were still off the chart....did 50% and still crazy.....we ended up doing like 3 more changes to finally get the nitrates down to .25.

I saw some fish at the lfs today that I LOVE so hopefully everything will be good to go tomorrow.

 

[KarlTh]

You sure you mean nitrates 0.25? Most test kits only go down to 5ppm as their lowest reading.

If it's just a typo for 25ppm then carry on; if it's a typo for 0.25ppm nitrite, then you've got a problem.

 

[Zenz]

Yea, that was wrong...

Nitrates are now at 5.0 ( I say 5 because my test kit shows 5 or 0 and it wasn't 0 but actually it wasn't quite 5), ammonia is at 4.0 (just dosed it and it should be at 0 tomorrow) and nitrites are at 0!

 

[DAVIDFBT]

Your tank isn't cycled yet. A cycled tank shouldn't have ammonia at all, if you dose for it, then it still isn't cycled. How long ago did you start cycling? What test kit are you using?