Help identifying and treating fine wormy things?

[guppylove]

I am hoping someone can help identify what small silky wormy like pest is growing on the glass fronts of my 5 gal aquarium, and how to treat? They are most active when the lights are off, and seemingly wiggle away and hide once said lights kick on. Currently home to 4 chili rasporas and a nerite snail.  The tank has been somewhat neglected the past 4 months (ever since I had a baby) and wasn’t as consistent in water exchanges this summer, but I’m back on track now!
 

As of late I’ve been doing 25% water changes weekly, and dosing with easy green (daily) and fritz complete (with water exchanges per dosing instructions on label).

I also have a pest snail problem but it is improving as I have cut back on feedings in amount and frequency (now every other day), and am actively removing these pest snails as I see them. 

I took my water to get tested recently at Aquarium Co-op and they said it looks great. (Lucky for me I live in the Edmonds area and get to pop in regularly to see Murphy!)
 

[Root]

It looks like rhabdocoela flatworms or another harmless detritus worm. I have had them for many months off and on in one of my dirted tanks. They go away when I house a pregnant fish in the tank and come back when I rehome the mom and fry. In my experience they are harmless and good for the ecosystem. Looks like a nice healthy tank to me. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Root

[Supermassive]

I'm not that experienced so I would consider other peoples advice more valuable than mine but I do have those tiny worms in my tank and have managed them somewhat. I found that I had the most of them when there was excess food left in the tank that my fish didn't eat or spit out or whatever. Try to find foods that your fish completely consumes and try not to feed too much. Once they got up to a couple millimeters in length my fish would just eat them too. I would say its only going to cause more problems if you try and take drastic measures to get rid of them. They are part of the ecosystem and aren't going to cause any problems, if anything they help. 

[Odd Duck]

I would double or triple the number of chili rasboras and see if they will pick off the worms.

[nabokovfan87]

As I was in your shoes with this one there's a few things I did to try to help.

1.  Salt the tank, might help, might do nothing.  It won't harm the fish or amano shrimp, but can be harmful to snails and plants.
2.  Cut back dramatically on how much food you're feeding.  It's very likely you're overfeeding.
3.  Daily (or very often) deep cleaning via siphon on the substrate.  Move hardscape, make sure you clean thoroughly!
 

 

[guppylove]

Thanks everybody! Happy to implement these tips and see what happens. 🙂

The gravel vac video was especially helpful!