Tank full of tiny, barely visible organisms

haldrik

haldrik

AC Members
Jun 22, 2005
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Hello!
I have a 75 gallon, fully cycled tank with 5 juvenile discus, who are happy and growing like mad. The only filter I have is a rena xp2 (media includes sponges, floss, and bio media stuff), which is for tanks up to 75 gallons. Before I feed the discus, I like to turn off the filter for a few minutes so the water stops moving around, which helps them catch the food. When the water stops moving I can see that the water is really loaded with these barly visible white microbes, which I can see swimming around as well as tiny whitish worms, about 1/16 or 1/8 inch long, which also wiggle around suspended in the water. Although I find this fascinating (and if I had cichlid fry in the tank I'd be thrilled they have lots to munch on), I'm worried that these things might cause some problems for the discus.
Does anyone know what these organisms could be and whether they are dangerous? Should I get another filter (this one's clearly maxed out!) or maybe try the "microsponge" that rena markets to "polish" the water? I'd really like to have crystal clear water if these things aren't actually beneficial.
 
dunno but wanna know.
bump
 
The little worms you see in your tank are planaria worms. Planaria are often found in aquariums with uneaten food, and although the planaria won't hurt the fish,they are a symptom of too much gravel containing too much uneaten food, and that is not good for fish. So you should do a water change/gravel vac to get rid of some of the uneaten waste... That should help you with your worms.
 
I'd also throw another filteron there,like an Aqua Clear 500/110.
It's my understanding that Discus need exceptionally clean water.
 
About leftover food in gravel...

I actually don't think that there is much chance of excess uneaten food in the gravel for the following reasons: 1) I feed them (bloodworms, brine shrimp, beefheart) from an eye dropper at the top of the water, so basically nothing hits the ground. 2), there is very little gravel in the tank, and I vacuum it competely every third day. However, my tank is fairly heavily planted, but almost all the plants are in small terracotta pots. Some of the plants have the tiniest leaves which fall off and end up at the top of the water in the back corner of the tank, or in the canister filter.
Maybe decaying plant matter is feeding those little worms??? Maybe the other little organisms (tiny white specs which dart around actively) are eating algae? (I do have some of that stringy type of green algae which I don't remove because I like the way it looks).

BTW, I'm looking into an additional power filter, but unfortunately the tank is only 3.5 inches from the window sill, which severely limits the possibilities, e.g., the AC 50 fits in the space, but doesn't set down properly on the tank because the 1-inch-wide tank rim is too wide for the filter. The larger model filters are too wide themselves to fit in the 3.5 inch space! Maybe another canister filter will have to be brought in.
 
Little follow up...

I brought over 14 neon tetras into the tank, and they made rather short work of both the worms and the (apparently yummy) white micro-creatures. Of course, once in a while I can still see a worm or white spec in the tank, and generally it's devoured within a minute.
Apparently these things congregate in the canister filter because if it's off for a while (so the discus don't have to chase their food) and then I turn it back on, the tetras get a fresh supply of live food!
 
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