Why are there black leech-looking things in my aquarium?
Ok. I have a ten-gallon aquarium that only has fancy goldfish in it. I had four, but a couple days ago, two died, and when I was getting them out, I noticed the water was really funky. (I’m not the best aquarium owner.) Anyway.. I was cleaning out the entire aquarium today, and when I got to the hood and was wiping it down, I noticed a few fruit flies chilling inside… so I wiped them off, and on the paper towel were a bunch of little black maggot/leech looking things…
I took off the hood and examined it under lighting, and there were hundreds of these worm things crawling all over it!!!! I poured bleach hardcore all over it……. has this ever happened to anyone?? I’m trying not to freak out too much at the fact that my hands were in the water… I don’t have any open cuts, lol…. but GROSS!!!!
Other articles you might like;
- Is These Pellets Healthy + More Qs-?
- Would This Hurt The Guppy Fry?
- 90g Reef Aquarium Setup Day 5
- Ideas On Fish For Freshwater Community Aquarium?
- Work Experience Melbourne 2011?
if they were white and like wormy (duh) then they’d be terrestrial worms, i think they were harmless maggots, and you didn’t have to bleach it, if water gets on that hood and drops back into the tank bye bye fish.
OMG! that’scrazy!!! wow!!!
Well all I know is that 4 goldfish in a 10 gallon is overstocked.
Remember they can get 4-5 inches.
I recommend 1 or 2 goldfish for a ten gallon so you are okay now.
You may want to get a bigger tank in the furture.
DO NOT GET BLEACH IN THE WATER.
I recommend getting a big container or a cooler. and put them in there.
(if it’s clean)
And then taking all of the equipment and the tank and taking it outside and blast it with a hose
Hope that helps
Hello. The flies you saw were most likely Phorid flies….they look just like fruit flies but are attracted more to meat based foods than to fruit. Often what happens is that goldfish food flakes wind up getting lodged under the hood, and the flies are attracted to this, and lay their eggs there. The worm-like creatures are their larvae. Goldfish will eat them if you knock them into the water.
Best to dismantle all and clean well. (use latex gloves – this is a good precaution in general, but the larvae will not harm you). Be careful when feeding, and be sure there is no other food source for the flies.
Goldfish are very hard on water quality, and do not usually do well in small tanks, despite their reputation as “tough” fish. They get quite large and really do best in a 30-55 gallon, well-filtered tank, or a pond.
For more info on goldfish growth, please see Aquarium Fish Growth Myths at http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatfishblog/2009/08/24/aquarium-fish-growth-myths/
Good luck and enjoy.