# Little white squiggly things



## kristian18f (Oct 31, 2005)

Alright, yet another problem. There are little white squiggily things in a tank with ghost shrimp babies (still upside down) and a snail. I did have a fish with dropsy in there but he got moved before he died. What I really want to know is will these things hurt my baby ghost shrimp or my snail? I am just taking a stab at it but I'm almost sure that I can't medicate with the babies in there.

Anyway these white things are about half the size of the 2 day old ghost shrimp in length, and they move kinda like a snake moves up and down the glass. They are so thin that it's hard to even compare them to anything. Maybe a freeze dried bloodworm? Probably even thinner then that. I have only been able to spot 3, but that was enough to worry me. I do need something that is safe because the baby ghost shrimp are not big enough to net yet and moving them would probably kill them anyway.

I do need to know if it effects ghost shrimp and or snails though because I defentally don't want to move them into my 20g if it does.

The only other problem is:
This has been a strange week in the world of my keeping fish. I brought home 3 semi short finned danios and some peppered cories to hold until I could give them to my boyfriend for his birthday. Once I got home I did one last water check on my newly set up 5g that I'd been cycling (that will house a betta shortly), and since there was a slight spike in ammonia (that wasn't there before I left to go get the fish) I stuck them in a 2g holding tank utnil I could make sure the tank was cycled. They were in that tank for about 3 days, I then put them into the 5g.

Since the holding tank was empty and my ghost shrimp was having her babies I moved my sick fish over into the tank where the danios were previously. About two hours before It died I checked on it. Nothing less in there than 40 or so fry (Daino fry I guess!) I have not seen these squiggily monsters in there, but if the sick fish was the carrier could I medicate that tank as well?

This is my first batch of fish fry, so I'm not 100 % sure if they are cories or danios but they are fry and in the tank that I put a sick fish into. It's been 2 days now and they seem fine, I've been feeding them Hikari First Bites Fry Food. But I need to know if I can medicate that tank too or not.

Ok here we go:
2 2g Tanks
1: 8-10 ghost shrimp fry + 1 snail and signs of squiggly things
2: 40 or so ??? fry and no signs of squiggly things, but the same fish was in there I guess while teh fry were still eggs.

Sorry for the LONG LONG LONG LONG post, & thanks for listening. If anyone has fry tips those would be nice too.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2006)

I'm not sure what they are...some kind of worm maybe? I doubt its a freeze dried bloodworm...they aren't supposed to be alive.

The only thing I know to do is tear the tank down. That's usually how people get rid of critters like that.

Maybe someone else has some better info though....


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## kristian18f (Oct 31, 2005)

oh, I know they are not a freeze dried bloodworm, was just trying to compare something to the size of them. The tank will be torn down (and was going to be anyway) after the ghost shrimp mature some.


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

The squiggly things, I can't remember the name of (planaria maybe?) are harmless. They are there because of something decaying (I'm guessing there is some food somewhere decaying).


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## kristian18f (Oct 31, 2005)

Thank you, that puts my mind at ease. There very well may be food decaying in his hiding spot, I will check and try to get it out without getting any ghost shrimp with it.


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## dwool36 (Jan 31, 2006)

They are probably planaria. Althought they are harmless, they are usually a good indication that you are overfeeding your fish as they only eat decaying matter. Also, if you recently had eggs laid in the tank, they love to feast on eggs.


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## kristian18f (Oct 31, 2005)

Well, there are no fish in that tank anymoire, but I had been feeding 1 (large) flake a day because I've always heard that if you keep ghost shrimp in a tank exactly like what they were in when they awere born they do better. I ddi go ahead and lift the decoration out of my tank and there was some food under there. I will stop feeding the tank though since I know rotting food throws off water chemestry.


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