Restarting Tank, Need Advice

I was here a few weeks (linking back because I am too tired to copy my specs over) back because all of my fish were wiped out by what I can only assume was a internal parasite.

I cleaned the tank out maybe two weeks ago ? Dumped all the water, rinsed substrate, scrubbed algae off decor, stuff like that. Sadly, this awful plant I bought (an ugly thing, regret purchasing it) carried worms over like a sponge. I've since removed it because I hate it.

Right now all that is in the tank is my ramshorn snail family.

But I also have worms & small, fast "mites" as I've been calling them because I have no clue what they are. I thought they could be baby snails, but after watching them for a while they are too fast to be baby snails, they almost look like they have limbs. I'll reply with pictures from my phone once I can get to it.

I plan on keeping another betta, i've fallen in love with them.

Anyone have advice on anything I can do to prevent what happened to my previous tank ? To start, I've found a better fish source (a PetSmart that actually takes GREAT care of their animals !!! I was so surprised I found this place, the owner actually cares & each tank is 10gal for every species.) But what should I do about the worms ? I think I have detrius & planarian (apologies for poor spelling), but I'm worried about using chemicals, since they really ruined my fishs' health last time. Of course I can always remove my snails if need be.


(long thin worm, I have small fatter worms as well but I can't see them right now)

(mite compared to baby snail, sorry its hard to tell the difference, my phone is not as good at taking close ups as I though)

 

Looks like scuds and detritus worms. Planaria have a triangular head with eyespots; I couldn't see anything like that on your worms. Both animals are harmless to bettas and snails, but if you see a triangle head look out; planaria prey upon invertebrates and parasite them. Larger fish like platies, cichlids, minnows, danios, and such will eat planaria and can naturally control or eradicate them. Your best bet in a 5 gallon tank would be dosing dewormer but that's gonna kill your snails and such. Scuds, cyclops, and such are actually beneficial as long as you aren't keeping fry or very small inverts like bee shrimp. Fish love them. I'm not an expert though so take that as you will. Best of luck in the future!

 

Looks like scuds and detritus worms. Planaria have a triangular head with eyespots; I couldn't see anything like that on your worms. Both animals are harmless to bettas and snails, but if you see a triangle head look out; planaria prey upon invertebrates and parasite them. Larger fish like platies, cichlids, minnows, danios, and such will eat planaria and can naturally control or eradicate them. Your best bet in a 5 gallon tank would be dosing dewormer but that's gonna kill your snails and such. Scuds, cyclops, and such are actually beneficial as long as you aren't keeping fry or very small inverts like bee shrimp. Fish love them. I'm not an expert though so take that as you will. Best of luck in the future!

Thank you ! I did a water change so pretty much all of the things I considered pests are gone. I guess I'm just paranoid since my last tank was such a massive failure.

Also, I have taken pictures of what I though might've been planaria,

(its the small, fatter worms, in person they don't really look anything like detrius, but I could be wrong, since i'm very new to this hobby)

another thing ! I have my ramshorn snails, they have these white "cracks" (or maybe just stripes ??) in their shells. I'm almost positive this isn't normal for them. the other day I was watching a video the guy mentioned his snails had a calcium deficiency so I just wanted to check & see what could be causing this. I know ammonia could be a problem. my test strips don't come with ammonia readings so I'm going to try to get some ammonia strips today (I hate strips, theyre hard to read, but I can never find a liquid test kit. :mad

edit: just did a water test & my ph is at 6.5 or around there, which is a little low for my standards (used to be a stable 7 but I don't know what happened). I believe that could be causing issues with their shells ?

 

Add some calcium supplements for your snails. Itll fix their shells. Dont chase ph, yours isn't dangerous, just slightly acidic. (Perfect for bettas!)

 

Add some calcium supplements for your snails. Itll fix their shells. Dont chase ph, yours isn't dangerous, just slightly acidic. (Perfect for bettas!)

Great !! Thank you so much !!

 

I would also like to mention that scuds, worms, etc. Can all be controlled with the amount of detritus in your tank. If you overfeed the tank, they show up in swarms. Something to consider. These animals are all part of the natural ecosystem of the tank and are almost always there, they just show and become much more prominent when we overfeed him our tanks. All they want to do is break down decaying matter, when provided with that, they thrive.

 

I would also like to mention that scuds, worms, etc. Can all be controlled with the amount of detritus in your tank. If you overfeed the tank, they show up in swarms. Something to consider. These animals are all part of the natural ecosystem of the tank and are almost always there, they just show and become much more prominent when we overfeed him our tanks. All they want to do is break down decaying matter, when provided with that, they thrive.

thank you I know theyre good decomposers, but I used to have swarms (used to be a lot less snails). ill keep in mind what I feed them !! thank you !