Is this a parasite???

[fishel]

I was cleaning my tank this morning with the gravel vacuum, and when I was done I looked down into the bucket I'd been vacuuming the water into and saw this little brown silverfish looking thing swimming around Then I looked for another few seconds and saw another one on the bottom. Eventually they both ended up on the top of the water and were swimming around. Like I said they looked like silverfish almost only brown, and they have six or eight legs and two tail things on one end. Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? And are they parasites? Should I clean out my entire tank...? I just added a mystery snail to my tank two days ago, but removed him yesterday he was stressing my fishy out. The only thing I can think is that they must have hitched a ride into my tank in his shell or something....

[Rainbows]

Originally Posted by fishel

I was cleaning my tank this morning with the gravel vacuum, and when I was done I looked down into the bucket I'd been vacuuming the water into and saw this little brown silverfish looking thing swimming around Then I looked for another few seconds and saw another one on the bottom. Eventually they both ended up on the top of the water and were swimming around. Like I said they looked like silverfish almost only brown, and they have six or eight legs and two tail things on one end. Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? And are they parasites? Should I clean out my entire tank...? I just added a mystery snail to my tank two days ago, but removed him yesterday he was stressing my fishy out. The only thing I can think is that they must have hitched a ride into my tank in his shell or something....

I think they are parasites. Im not directly sure. You should clean out you whole tank now that you found 2 little critters in there just in case they do harm your betta.

[Mahachai]

You should clean the tank with bleach just incase those things can lay eggs and monitor your fish for any unusual behaviors or signs.