How to tell difference between planaria or detritus?

Few feeks back saw some tiny creatures on the glass, enhanced maintenance a bit and now they're gone, how to tell what they were... Tank is going on for about 3 months now and fish seem ok. Which worms you have to trear chemically? Would parasites die on their own if you remove fish and after how long?

Planaria are larger with an arrow shaped head.
A tank in its first few month will have some small worms appearing on the glass and those are not planaria.
I cant see how planaria could hurt your fishes...

New tanks often have clusters of tiny wormlike creatures on the glass...These disappear on their own and are harmless..I actually dont know what they are but ive seen them numerous times....

Anything that is a parasite will die if it does not find a new host....So technically yes a tank emptied of its occupants will become parasite free in a couple of weeks...Parasites have various different stages in their life cycle so the tank needs to be empty of fish for a couple of weeks to make sure all the parasites die...

The problem is once there are any parasites in the tank they are guaranteed to be on the animals that are in there too...So moving the animals out is kinda pointless (You are just moving the parasites with them)

The good news is that most fish have the ability to fight off small parasite attacks...Their immune system is usually strong enough to keep the parasites at bay..

Its when a fish becomes stressed for various reasons (bullying, transport, large temperature fluctuations etc etc) that its immune system is compromised and then it becomes susceptible to parasite attack...

The fact is all aquariums have parasites in them...Its unavaoidable...But good water quality, a decent environment and a proper varied diet will go along way to keeping the fish in good health...

Internal worms are parasites also...To treat these you need to get the medicine inside the fish via their food...The classic sign of internal worms (parasites) is a sunken belly and long stringy feces...

You will know when your fish have external parasites...It will show itself in the form of whitespots etc....

Another big giveaway that your fish are being colonised with parasites is constant flicking of the gills and body off gravel or other objects in the tank...Dont confuse this with occasional flicking which is very normal....

If your fish are not behaving strangely and are eating properly they are usually fine....

Its when they start behaving erratically (lethargy, gasping etc, etc) and stop eating is when you know something is up for sure...

Its always a good idea to take regular close up visual checks for any tiny unusual marks or spots or lesions etc etc...

Nine time out of ten if you catch a disease early its usually treatable...Diseases that have reached an advanced stages usually spell doom for the animals in question...In that case I always recommend euthanasia because the animal is just suffering and in alot of pain...

By the way detritus is a totally different thing to planaria or a parasites etc...

Detritus is basically the muck and gunk that builds up in filters and on badly maintained gravel over time...Detritus is the main reason gravel vaccing and filter maintenance is absolutely essential....

If you dont clean up detritus on a regular basis you are heading in the direction of sky high NitrAtes and Phosphates which in turn leads to green tanks and sick fish..