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I JUST GOT HOME FROM A WEEK TRIP AND MY TANK HAS THESE LITTLE "SEA MONKEY" LOOKING THINGS IN IT....IN THE GRAVEL AND ON THE SIDES....ITS SOMETHING THATS ALIVE.....WHAT ARE THESE AND WHAT SHOULD I DO???  I DONT HAVE ANOTHER TANK FOR MY OSCAR.....PLEASE HELP ASAP!!

THANKS!

WHO feed your fish while U were gone??

They are harmless but they do seem to show up when to much food has been added into the tank..
scubb them off the glass so the filter can suck them up and then clean the gravel really good. I would do at least a 40% water change so U can clean the tank really well. Dont' forget the to clean the filter..

I had those in my Oscar tank before. It's because they are messy little buggars, and are great at begging for food!

They were fed too much (probably because of the begging!). When I went on vacation this past summer, I set up little baggies with food in them, so they didn't get overfed.

Barb Okla is definitely right. Just follow what she said. I just wiped them off, and cleaned the water, and they went away.

THANK YOU FOR THE HELP!!!  I HAVE DONE A 60% WATER CHANGE AND THE LIL CRITTERS ARE GOING AWAY...THE GUY AT MY LOCAL SHOP SAYS IT'S A PARASITE FROM NOT DOING ENOUGH WATER CHANGE....HE SAID I WASNT CHANGING ENOUGH OF THE WATER, I WAS ONLY CHANGING 1/3 AT EACH CLEANING.....SO I PLAN TO DO ANOTHER CLEANING THIS WEEK, MAYBE TWICE....THANKS AGAIN, IT'S NICE TO SEE PEOPLE CARING FOR THEIR ANIMALS AS MUCH AS I DO.....THANKS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE!!!

1/3 each clean is plenty as long as your frequency of cleans are OK.  How often do you carry out your cleaning, do you use a gravel vac, how much are you feeding (the more food you put in, the more you'll have to clean up).  Also, do you test for nitrate, this will give you an indication of whether your cleaning regime is working.  Although 40 ppm is quoted as acceptable I'd try and aim for 20 ppm or less. 

YES I DO VAC THE GRAVEL.....I DONT TEST FOR NITRATE.....IN EITHER OF MY TANKS....BUT BOTH END UP CRYSTAL CLEAR WHEN I AM DONE AND MY FISH ARE HAPPY......I AM GOING TO BOIL HIS GRAVEL AND HIS PLANTS AND TOYS TODAY WHEN I DO ANOTHER WATER CHANGE.....THOSE PESKY LIL BUGGERS ARE STILL IN THERE!

How do

Dont boil your gravel! youll cause your tank to go through a mini cycle (basically, tons of bacteria live on aquarium plants, gravel and glass (debatablly more then in the filter)

Also, start testing for stuff, will save you so many head aches.

Just my thoughts on the situation.

DO NOT BOIL YOUR FAKE PLANTS!! they will swivil up and U will have to get new ones..
DO NOT BOIL your gravel.. That wil kill out the good bacteria in the tank...
DO NOT BOIL ANYTHING that is plastic..

HOW big is your tank??  In a oscar tank, 30% is a good water change, 40% is better with two Oscars depending on tank size and WHAT U feed..
1/3 does not tell me much, that is just a hair past 1/4.. AND that is not enough with Oscars.. BUT 1/2 is to much.. This is how I determain the % on a water change..
Say this tank is a 55gal  55x .30= 16.5 gal, AS this is close to 15, then do 15 gal so U can measure out the dechlor/salt/other more accuratly..
55x .40= 22 gal.. so this is closer to 20 gal,  for the above reasons..

NOW this is not YOUR TANK SIZE as I do not know what it is.. So U can do this OR tell me and I can figure it out for U..

FILTERS?? U need  TWO  on a tank over 50 gal.. They need to be cleaned WHEN U do the tank or the water just gets fouled again fast within days..

ALSO, THIS IS CONCIDERED SHOUTING SO PLEASE DONT' DO IT ALL THE TIME!! Thanks..

To-sha Craig.. Boiling is not a good deal in a cycled tank.. Even with the worms. they will leave soon enough with more vacs and water changes..

Well I did boil my stuff.....lol gotta get new plants!
AND I didnt change much water out of it in fear that the 'lil ecosystem' would be screwed up....this poor fish!  I got him from a local glass shop that had him in with 5 feeders that got too big....filthy tank!!  So I have had him here at my house for about 5 months......this is the first time I have ever had this problem.  Scarface....thats the O I am having tank problems with...is in a 70 gallon...not positive it's 70 but it's definatley smaller by half than my 150 gal with Oscar in it....Oscar's tank has a catfish and a gourami and a HUGE (1'long) plec.  Never had this problem in his tank and I have had Oscar for 6 years.  Maybe I need a better filter?  Maybe a bigger one?  Just seems wierd it happened this last time I left home. I leave my fish in the care of my friend Kyle.  He is good with them, knows whats up and how to feed.....so it was a SHOCK to see these little 'baby Sea Monkey' looking things on the sides of my tank.....HOPEFULLY everything will be ok now......THANK YOU GUYS AND GALS FOR YOUR HELP!!