i came home from work today and turned on the aquarium lights, like i do everyday.
at first i didn't notice anything and went about my routine. when i came back into the living room, i noticed the glass looked dirty from far away.
i took a closer look and it looked like lint on the inside of the glass, hmmmmm.
i looked a little closer and the lint started MOVING!!!
I HAVE WORMS!!!
the only recent changes in the tank is the addition of a couple new live plants from petco and petsmart, and 20lbs more of black sand, all of which went in the tank TWO days ago.
there are HUNDREDS of them, and they appeared overnight!!
HELP! does anyone recognize these? are they parasitic? harmless? how do i get rid of them?
I got the best pictures i could, these guys are tiny!

You have planaria. They are tiny white worms caused from over feeding and not removing left over food in the tank. They are completely harmless and can easily be removed by smaller fish as a tasty treat such as swordtails or Angels. If smaller fish are not possible then they will be removed by frequent water changes and cut back on the amount of food you are feeding.

yeah, smaller fish are not an option.
i have been doing very regular water changes as i have been treating my red o for HITH.
i haven't changed anything as far as feeding, but i will cut back.
do yall think they came in with the plants, or is it just coincidence?

just a coincidence i guess..... my tank inside the office had no exposure
to any flying insects. when i clean the media after three months, i found
out those tiny worms too. good for me, my fan tail goldfish love munching
them when i put them in the tank

thor i got them too my friend, i got rid of them by gravel vac'ing daily for a couple weeks and cutting back on my feeding lol. they are a pain in teh butt to get rid of, but otherwise harmless. in my case, i finally gave up trying to eradicate them mechanically, and just went out and got a big bag of ghost shrimp and in 2 days i couldnt find a single worm on my glass, altho in the tank that i had the problem with the ghosties were fine, that wouldnt work so well in an oscar tank lol.

thanks guys,
i've been reading up on planaria now, and all of the pictures i find look different
i also read that planaria is a general term that refers to a many different actual species.
are all planaria harmless? at least the ones commmon in aquariums?

The way to get rid of these is 2 fold. Firstly physically remove all you can.

Secondly clean the gravel well and reduce feeding. You should only be feeding what your fish will eat in 2 or 3 mins

Of course you should be maintaining your tank well with water changes and filter cleaning

see, i don't take much stock in the 2 minute feeding rule. if i fed them all they could eat in 2-3 minutes, then i would use a couple handfulls of food, which is way too much. i have to try really hard to get food to any of the other fish as the oscars will eat everything.
as it is, i feed about 5-8 "fingerfulls" a day, what ever i get when i grab the food with my fingertips out of the bag. (if you can get anything from my description )

If your oscars are eating all the food and depriving the others then try spreading the food all over the tank. The others might not get food for a couple of days but hunger will eventually drive them to rush the food as soon as it arrives. Alternatively try sinking food spread all over the tank. I would guess you are overfeeding from the planaria

well over the last month, i have tried a different pellet. i forgot who makes it, but it is called Oscar Show. I think this stufff might be a contributing factor....
i have noticed that when the oscars "chew" it up, ALOT more come out of their gills into the water and makes a much bigger mess, as compared to the hikari gold i have been using over the last year/

That could be the problem. how often do you gravel clean?

i have sand. and it is vaccumed once a week with the water change

the night i posted this, i didn't feed, i cleaned the glass inside at the front and sides, and did a 50% waterchange. i don't see any where i cleaned the glass, but can still see a few on the back glass where there is still some algae