Hey everyone today i noticed a bunch of skinny white worms swimming in my tank and a few on my Oscar. I have never noticed them before, does anyone know what they could be and most importantly could they be harmful to my fish?

Thanks

sounds a bit like planeria which are free swimming parasites that often get into the tank on rock all plants. However, I've never heard of anyone complaining about them being on the actual fish. Could you possibly get a photograph, it might not be very easy but if we can see what they look like, we might be able to determine what they could be.

The rule of thumb normally says that as long as they aren't on the fish, they shouldn't cause a problem. I'm not an expert on parasites but there is a possibility they could be some kind of fish lice. You could always try a parasitic medication and see if it gets rid of them let's determine whether they are lice or not

Sorry but i do not have a camera, i think the worms are to small anyways to see them in a photo. Also cant really see anything distinct about them they are as thin as a hair, few MM in length, white in color, they wiggle through the water, and the majority of them are at the bottom of the tank where the rocks are. I dont think they purposely attach to the fish its just that they glide through the water and run into them.

Hope that helps and appreciate all the advice.

It does sounds like planeria. I have never had it but the cause is too much feeding and not enough tank maintainance. They feed on waste food

They are relative easy to get rid off. You need to feed your fish less. Only feed what they will eat in 2 mins once a day unless they are less than 2 inches in which case feed twice a day. If there is any uneaten food remove it. This applies even after the worms are gone

Up you tank maintainance. You should be doing at least a 25% water change every week with a gravel clean at least every 3rd week. While you have the worms do a 25% water change twice a week with a gravel clean each time. Long term test your water weekly for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If you have enough filtration and it is working well, ammonia and nitrite will be zero. If nitrate goes above 40 then you will need to do more often and/or large water changes

The other thing to do is to scrape the worms from the glass