White worm-like things on glass!?

[G S P Freak]

Hello, today I discovered many white dots at the front of my f8 tank. Upon further inspection I found out that they are small worm-like creatures! My tank is at about 79-80F, 1.004 S.G. Is it possible that they are planaria?, idk if they can stand brackish water. I have heard of planaria in freshwater tanks, but from what I know the tank has to be pretty neglected, and these worms dont look like the planaria I've seen under a microscope. Anyone have ideas?

[bertie 83]

Critters like this can be found in any tank, they are part of the bio- system. If you see them on the glass there is more than there should be in the tank. This can be due to many reasons such as over feeding or insufficient gravel vacuuming. Cut back a little on food and vacuum gravel daily for a week or so and they will soon be gone. They are a normal tank inhabitant we just only see them when their population gets larger than it should be. Be sure to vacuum under decor. I had them not so long ago and it was due to over feeding

[RTR]

+1 to bertie's comments, they are right on.

These critters are, as he said, normal tank inhabitants which we normally do not see at all or only rarely. They multiply to excessive numbers and so are visible from crowding of the larger population moving out to the glasses and water column. The population level is related to the DOC (Dissolved Organic Compounds) in the water and especially in the substrate. We do not have any hobby tests for dissolved organics, DOCs, so we cannot check on them specifically. They generally are related in concentration to the level of nitrate in the water column in well maintained tanks - which does include regularly vacuumed substrate. If the substrate is not well maintained, the little wigglers, commonly harmless nematodes, can multiply to excess, even if the water column is fairly low in nitrate levels.

Excess plavnaria occurs sometimes also, for exactly the same reasons.

HTH

[G S P Freak]

Well I gravel vacuum the substrate thoroughly everytime I do a water change, but I am overdue for a filter cleaning. Water change day is today so later I will clean the filter and make sure I take extra care to suck out all of the solid nasties in the tank as possible. They were on the glass for about 2 day and today I saw no signs of them anywhere, so idk what was going on. I didn't realize that nematodes were present in brackish tanks, but I guess it shouldn't suprise me, many creatures are able to adapt to conditions, like the bacteria and other microorganisms in my tank.
I think I may have too much media in my canister filter as I've noticed the flow is restricted and this may be a possible problem as I see some solids that before would have been sucked up into the filter just sitting somewhere in the tank. I'm going to try to remove some of the media and see if it helps. I fear I am becoming to lax in my cleaning regimen recently so I hope this will be a kick in the rear I need to remind me.

[RTR]

Roughly monitoring filter flow is a good idea on a routine basis. Some filters do slow down markedly, while others seem to maintain fairly even flow despite being quite dirty. As I am neuroti about tank currents, I prefer the latter even with all-in-one canisters i insist on flow staying near optimum. Packing sequence and not over-compressing soft media can help on that. One gimmick that I sometimes use id the addition of an easily accessible intake sponge on the canister intake - frequent rinsing of that sponge can markedly extend to time before the external canister itself clogs.

HTH