General Care Discussion :: Bugs, parasites, 'n meds questions!

[Callie]

George has been enjoying his new 75G tank for some time now. I even went and did the sand bottom. Looks good I think

I put his old friend, the Golden Chinese Algae eater back in there for company, and to keep the tank algae free. All's well.

There's a huge log in there for his basking area. It used to be on display at mom's house (dry, for years)...

Admitting that since I set up the tank...2 months ago? I cleaned it once. I'm terrible I realize, but I got caught up with emergencies (one after the other, including a dog who almost died on me, and $3200 later, an exploratory surgery, and still no answers, but at least he's getting better, sorta).

Anyways.
I was cleaning the tank and saw those little wormy parasites that I had in my fish tank years ago. I can't remember how I got rid of them though.

I still have some Mardel, Coppersafe - should I use that? Will it harm George?

Or should I just do repetitive water changes, weekly, or every few days? Will that do it?

Also, I used play sand, but I seem to have brought along some sort of tiny, jumping bugs that are on the surface of the water. They're tiny! What are they and how do I get rid of them?!

(note: I know for a fact they came in with the sand, though I washed the bejesus out of it!, because they were there since the sand went in, and the log went in a month later).

This is totally all over the place, sorry.

[ScrewZoo]

if their tiny tiny tiny white lines that slowy move around the edges of the tank and the surface of the water i had them before, and i finnally found a way to get rid of them, and there not not parasites, just worms.

[Callie]

Yup, thems be it!
The squiggly lines moving - lol - being worms, or mini-leeches lol, dunno technical terms.

What'd you to get rid of those?

(I think that's more of a priority to get rid of, the other things so far are just a nuisance to me, but the worms do latch on to fish 'n ..well they're parasites, I'd imagine it's the same for turtles...)

[ScrewZoo]

The ones i have aren't parasites.. and didn't bother the turtles at all.. But what I did is bought some feeder guppies... Ever since then I guess the guppies just eat em off the walls because sometimes ill see one then a few minutes later, instead of reproducing like they did before they dissapear.. Not sure if thats really how i got rid of them but its the only thing new i did so i guess so.

[steve]

The worms could be fly larvae. Not sure about the bugs, are they fruit flies? Either way, you need to keep the area clean and you probably want to replace the filter media. If you can, put some very warm water in a container and run the filter a bit. Maybe even add some white vinegar. If that doesn't work, you will need something stronger to disinfect.

[Callie]

The 'worms' I had in my fish tank were primarily in the gravel - which I wonder if that's where they came from this time as well.
I certainly do not think they are fly larvae - as I haven't had any around...

I can try putting guppies in there, but from memory, when I researched the wormy-things back in the day, they were said to attach to fish like leeches, and well, be a parasite.

Hence I wondered about the meds I had, as they are specific for that. But it's very strong meds...

I think for now I'll try to continue cleaning every week and hopefully that'll do it....

But the little bugs on top of the water is weird, because that came with the sand...and now they either hop around on top of the water, or chill out on the log that floats around..

How do I get rid of those!? (and what in cripes name are they?)

[ScrewZoo]

WE must have different cases of bugs then because mine dont attatch to anything they just slowly wiggle on the walls and reproduce rapidly

[Callie]

Ok, thanks to local Fish forum - the worms are 'nematodes' and numbers can be controlled with less feeding (or rather no overfeeding, and by extension I assume less waste), and more frequent gravel/sand cleaning.

There's a debate as to their harmfulness, or 'just there'-ness. Seems they're not the leechy-things I'd read about on the package of meds.

One down. One more to go!
(just wanted to share the info in case others came across same thing).

[SpotsMama]

Maybe the hopping ones are springtails. Here's a link that mentions them:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Freshwater-A ... s-tank.htm

Are you sure the white wormy things aren't planaria?

Most of what I've read about little critters in aquaria say to keep things extra clean (lots of water changes) and they will fade away in time. If you feed your turtle in the tank, you might try feeding him/her in a separate bowl to help keep the water clean.

[Callie]

Thanks....they're not springtails, at least they don't look like the pics.
They look sorta like Water Mites, and yet not....I can't really tell if their bodies are as big as the ones I'd googled.

And the wormy things are definitely not planaria - those are icky..lol

I'll start feeding George outside the tank but that'll only clear up the wormy things, not the top-of-the-water critters - those unfortunately hitched a ride in the sand

I'll continue my search!
Thanks for the help so far