So I got my clams in the mail last Wednesday, put the fish that was in the 10-gallon hospital/QT tank into the other tank (after acclimating it, blah, blah, blah), acclimated the clams a bit, netted them out of the bag, and put them in the QT tank. They have the whole thing to themselves (except for a couple of snails, which I don't think are adults yet), not enough gravel to bury themselves in, but I've been keeping the lights off in that tank.

A few days later, I noticed little grayish-whitish dots crawling around on one portion of the tank walls. They're still there, mostly in one corner of the tank -- the corner that happens to be closest to the window. I don't know what they are, they don't really seem to be growing... they had to have come in with the clams, but I don't know what to do about them.

I've also been doing a fishless cycle on the little 5-gallon tank I bought for my computer desk -- it's basically sitting next to my monitor.

I wound up ordering the substrate I wanted online, since it was cheaper than getting it in the store, even with the shipping charges. I also bought some compact fluorescent bulbs, since they were on sale for 60% off and I wanted them anyway. That box came yesterday, so I spent over an hour this morning rinsing and rinsing the flourite substrate (and getting lots of sharp bits stuck under my fingernails -- ow!).

Over the weekend, I'd gone a bit nuts and bought ten different types of live aquarium plants from someone on eBay -- most of them $2-3 for two to five plants. Including shipping, it came to $35 for 28 plants, which would retail at $2-4 each in a local store (and some of which I've not seen in any local store). (There were other types I liked, too, but I was doing my homework and trying to get those that would do best in my water, which seems to be soft and alkaline.)

This afternoon, just before Laura got here, I opened the front door and a box fell into the house -- the plants. Some of them turned out to be rather larger than I had expected (and I do hope to wind up with at least two planted tanks), but I now have 17 of them (not really planted, just hanging out) in my little 5 gallon tank, and the rest in the QT tank with the clams. Most of them seem really cool, though one kind seemed to be half-rotted -- I cut off the worst bits and I'm hoping the rest can grow. If not, oh well.

It does look really cool, though, the little tank, sooo pretty and green, my own little jungle... going to spend time in a few to actually arrange and plant stuff.

Okay, but I still have these little gray-white wormy things in the QT tank. And now it looks like there are a few other little critters in there too, and some things that look like egg sacs, but not quite like the ones my snails usually make...

I'm totally now wondering what the heck is going on with all these little things in there... definitely not buying any new fish until all this is straightened out. I e-mailed the person from whom I purchased the clams, maybe s/he will know about some of it (and admit to it).

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Okay, just spent 20 minutes rearranging everything -- I seem to have *lost* a plant in the last few minutes, have to wait for some of the stuff to settle out of the water and maybe I'll find it.

I also seem to have inherited some daphnia with the plants. But those aren't really a threat, and will likely wind up as food for the betta I plan to put in there in a month or two. And they're *identified*, which makes them less scary.

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The clam woman wrote me back and basically said she didn't know what I was talking about, which was pretty much as I expected. Time to hit my forums...

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(Hours later)

Looks like my worms are probably planaria, and harmless. Which is a relief, sortof. I still have my doubts.