Many unwanted critters in newt tank! Help!

A few months ago, I upgraded our newts to a 20 long tank. I hated the gravel in the old one and went with sand this time. The sand is about an inch deep. We have the Zoomed filter (510-I think) and it is working great. The water quality is fine. I feed them thawed bloodworms exclusively and remove the uneaten ones within a half hour. A week ago, I noticed hydra. Then I noticed some other tiny critters on the inside of the glass and strolling around the food dish (I only leave it in for feeding time). There's some sort of thing that is stuck on the glass and seems to be a cyclops...but I'm not sure. And today...with my turkey baster, I sucked up the worms the newts didn't eat. In the cup I squirted the waste into, I found some sort of worm. I thought at first it was a bloodworm that was just stuck to the cup but it's definitely alive. It has a red, oval-elongated body and a clear/white tail that it uses to flip itself over when I disturb it. It is a little bit like planaria...but it's definitely not. It's about a quarter of an inch long and balls itself up when I bother it. What is that??? I'm a little worried about it bothering the newts.

I know the tank won't ever be a sterile place free of everything but the newts. However, I'm *this close* to putting our newts in a temporary tank while I eradicate these things. I don't really care that much about screwing up the cycling because the tank hasn't been up and running that long. I'm guessing they all hitched a ride on the plants and now we have an explosion of critters. I just read about getting rid of the critters on the plants. Now I'm wondering about taking out the sand or maybe just cleaning it. I don't want a bare bottom or gravel again.

Any advice or ideas are welcome!

Victoria

A healthy tank has a host of critters living in it that you rarely see. There are bacteria, which are your 'biological cycle'. Then there are all sorts of crawly things, bugs, worms, other invertebrates. I suggest reading this article here before doing anything drastic: http://caudata.org/cc/articles/Tank_critters.shtml

Critters are just a normal part of a healthy aquarium and blooms are common whilst a tank is establishing. Make sure you do regular water changes and remove all uneaten food.

No need to panic - learn to love your critters!

Kaysie said:

A healthy tank has a host of critters living in it that you rarely see. There are bacteria, which are your 'biological cycle'. Then there are all sorts of crawly things, bugs, worms, other invertebrates. I suggest reading this article here before doing anything drastic: http://caudata.org/cc/articles/Tank_critters.shtml

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Thanks for replying, Kaysie. I've read that already and everything else I can find. I even broke out several of my college texts. I have a degree in biology, for goodness sake...I should be able to identify this thing. All those years of college and I can't even tend my newt tank ;o) Maybe it's just temporarily red from the bloodworms. I haven't seen any besides this one...so I guess I'll just do a normal cleaning and hope for the best.

Lol@degree in biology! I don't know how many times I've said that myself!

Just don't panic, especially if it's not harming your newts in any way. You'll always have random critters show up. It's a natural part of tank life.

Mark said:

Critters are just a normal part of a healthy aquarium and blooms are common whilst a tank is establishing. Make sure you do regular water changes and remove all uneaten food.

No need to panic - learn to love your critters!

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Thanks, Mark. I guess I'll have to learn to be less of a perfectionist with it and love those critters...ugly as they are ;o)