# small, whitish/translucent water mites/ticks?



## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

so today i was looking closely at my 75g tank. i was staring down at tha sand untill i noticed there were grains of sand it looked like jumpin and poppin around on the bottom of the tank. this tank is planted and has drift wood, also has sand as substrate. i know for a fact what i saw was not really sand and it appeared to be some white/translucent looking ticks or mites crawling on the sand and on the side of the glass in water. there's probably thousands of these guys and their size range from about a milimeter to half of it. there so small that u cant really take a picture of these things.
could ne one tell me what tha freak this is? itz pissing me off seeing so many of them. there pretty un-noticable untill u look carefully. are these things harmful? parasites? please help and tell me if i should get rid of them or how do u get rid of them. thanks!


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## thebluyak (Apr 14, 2006)

black_piranha said:


> so today i was looking closely at my 75g tank. i was staring down at tha sand untill i noticed there were grains of sand it looked like jumpin and poppin around on the bottom of the tank. this tank is planted and has drift wood, also has sand as substrate. i know for a fact what i saw was not really sand and it appeared to be some white/translucent looking ticks or mites crawling on the sand and on the side of the glass in water. there's probably thousands of these guys and their size range from about a milimeter to half of it. there so small that u cant really take a picture of these things.
> could ne one tell me what tha freak this is? itz pissing me off seeing so many of them. there pretty un-noticable untill u look carefully. are these things harmful? parasites? please help and tell me if i should get rid of them or how do u get rid of them. thanks!


Maybe planeria, if it looks like little worms that could be it. Normally found when left over food is abundent. They will go away on their own and are not harmful to the fish


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## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

the only thing i could think of is planaria, but that looks like very small white worms, not ticks or mites, but if it is planaria, dont worry, it wont harm your fish, you can throw some salt in there, just clean the tank walls, and do a water change, and then with regular maintnece it will go away on its own


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

no, itz not planaria. itz actually less tha a milimeter, round and looks exactly like a underwater living mite or tick. itz white and translucent. ne ways my tank is infested with these things. please help!


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## Maximuz Aliuz (Jul 20, 2005)

black_piranha said:


> no, itz not planaria. itz actually less tha a milimeter, round and looks exactly like a underwater living mite or tick. itz white and translucent. ne ways my tank is infested with these things. please help!


i have the same problem right now... this is the second time it happened...i think its cause my friend had infested water with planeria/mites and when i transfered fish i had some of his water get in...anyways..my process is to remove the gravel transfer the fish to another tank..scrub the walls of the glass..wash the gravel throughly and clean out the filters really good...imma put half the water back but not all...turn up the heat add some salt..THEN BAM..those fawkers are gone...
i mean another method is to just turn up your heat add salt and just do a good vaccum..and do a 15% water change..thats what most will tell you to do... good luck imma start my cleaning tomorrow!!!


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

so add more salinity to water? and raise heat? will these guys really die if i do that? temp in tank right now is 76-78 with no heater. i took out the heater couple days ago to add to another tank and everything is fine. i ordered a new heater though and it'll be here soon. than i guess imma raise it to 84 or something.

are there ne medications that could kill these things? and what affect do these things have? my fish seem to be fine wid these mites/ticks things.

i juss want these suckers gone.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Is it possible you have a snail infestation going on ???


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

jerry_plakyda said:


> Is it possible you have a snail infestation going on ???


no, these are clearly nothing like snails. so today i went to check the tank again. i threw some market shrimp in from last night for my arowana to eat. it ate one piece and theres one piece it didnt decide to touch. i see the shrimp and itz freakin covered with the white mites all over it. i think there eating it or something. i juss know that this doesnt look good and still need options to get rid of these guys. im guessing theres about a million of these things now, seeing that my sand looks like itz bouncing around, but really there these white ticks infesting everything. 
i need major help now. are these things beneficial bacteria of some sort? or something like ich or a parasite.


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

i think i found out the culprit to this. does ne one use home depot playground sand? if so, dont use it ne more. so, i got a new heater and my tanks at 84 degrees. i added lots of salt in too. those mite things are still alive believe it or not.

the other story.

juss a few minutes ago, i checked to see if my other tank is cycled. in this tank, i added home depot sand like my other tank has. i look close to the glass and i see planeria AND those white mite things AGAIN!

problem still not solved. and still no replies?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

I know exactly what your talking about. They are def not planaria. I had them in both tanks I have Eco complete in. and they also bugged (no pun intended) the hell outta me. I belive they are nematods. or some type of bug. not sure. But I hit my tanks with Prazzipro and that seemed to take care of them. 
Salt dosen't seem to have much effect on them.


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## thebluyak (Apr 14, 2006)

hmm interesting, id like to know what they actually are, are they mites?


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## ruger345 (Jul 8, 2006)

Never seen these (knock on wood) in my 30 gallon and I have Home depot play sand it. I will reslly check it out tomorrow and let you guys know.


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

wierd, my other new tank that had these mites and planaria all died out. the tank temp was a 87 degrees F. i guess the higher temp will kill these guys.


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

okay, i seriously need help? why tha f*ck wont these fuckers go away. fuckin help.


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