Small White Organisms In My Tank

[vonjankmon]

There's some type of very very tiny white speck of some type in my tank, they kind of swim around with a jerking motion but they're to small to make out anything about them, they just appear like small specks with maybe a tiny bit of a tail. They kind of move around erratically with a jerking motion.

Are these things ich? None of my fish are showing any signs at all of it but it kind of sounds like it. I just noticed them a couple of days ago so they might of been there longer but I'm not 100% sure. Could these things be anything other than ich or is that about it?

 

[Bignose]

The ich swimmers are 1 to 6 microns is size. (A micron is a millionth of a meter, or 1 micron = 0.00003937 inches) That would be a dot with a diameter less than half the diameter of the finest human hair. You'd need super-human eyes to see that. So, I can confidently tell you it is NOT ich.

However, I personally can't tell you what they are. I hope someone else can.

 

[Amunet]

Maybe you're seeing tiny planaria?

 

[loachman]

Daphnia

 

[vonjankmon]

Any idea how Daphnia got there or better yet how to get rid of them? Only thing I can think of is that I bought some frozen Hakari brine shrimp and they were in that somehow.

 

[Majjie]

They're more likley to be cyclops if they're tiny and white with a bit of a tail.

They won't do any harm - your fish may even enjoy eating them. What fish do you have?

 

[nakomis90]

ohhh i had something like this... don't know wha it was but i broke the tank down scrubbed and got rid!

This it???

 

[vonjankmon]

No, they're to small to really make any kind of detail out.

They are in one tank I am cycling (and put a few pieces of frozen brine shrimp into to help it along) that has them in addition to my tank with fish and I thought they were specks of calcium carbonate at first because I added some powder of that to the tank to raise the hardness. Just to give an idea of how small they are, like specks of dust/powdered sugar.

And since they're in my cycling tank that may narrow down what it could be, my cycling tank has VERY high ammonia currently, I mean like 1.0 levels. (ADA substrate causes this, beginning to wonder if buying it was worth it but that's another topic)

So can cyclops or Daphnia live in a tank with that level of Ammonia? If not what else could it be? The tank with my fish in it appears fine but I do not want to just wait and see if these things go away or wipe out all 6 of my Gouramis and 5 Tiger Barbs.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/manage...aria_Worms.html

 

[Saedcantas]

My guess is definitely on Copepods (cyclops). They're a bit smaller than a grain of salt, a minature T shape and move along by flexing their "arms" at the front. One of my tanks is currently rammed with them all hanging about on the glass, I'm sure mine originated in my moss ball

Check this pic of one out;
Microscopy UK

 

[BigC]

Planaria worms

 

[vonjankmon]

I purchased API General Cure Anti-Parasitic Fish Medication today to try and deal with the problem. I gave it the first dose and the instructions call for a second dose 48 hours later followed by a water change. So we'll see how it goes, after a few hours I'm not noticing any kind of significant difference other than it may be having an adverse affect on my Rotola.

Will have to see how it goes but if this stuff kills my plants API is getting a very angry letter.

 

[Saedcantas]

Unless you specifically think these organisms are a fish parasite, why are you using that med?

Where are these things most often found? on the glass, near the surface or actually on the fish???

Lotte***

 

[vonjankmon]

I'm actually using it in the tank with no fish currently, specifically to see if it would work before I took a chance on stressing fish out with it.

I'm hoping that the little things are close enough relatives to the more "normal" parasites and planaria that it's meant to treat for it to kill them also, or at least lower their numbers to make getting rid of them easier. Starting daily water changes today to address the source of the problem which from what I read is overfeeding, not that I understand how that happened in a fish tank that only had a tiny bit of brine shrimp added to it to encourage cycling, but I'm all for the try everything you can approach.

 

[Saedcantas]

I'm still not sure what you think you are dealing with or why you need to use meds against them.

Planaria dont swim or jerk, they're flatworms that look like tiny creamy/white strings. Even if it was them, simply waiting it out would solve the problem once your ammonia and available food goes down. They are non parasitic so nothing to panic over.

Copepods do swim and jerk as you have described, again they are no threat and are totally non parasitic so nothing to throw meds at.

"I'm hoping that the little things are close enough relatives to the more "normal" parasites and planaria that it's meant to treat for it to kill them also"

If you take this approach you'll find yourself adding meds right left and centre to your tank on the offchance that it might sortout a non-existent problem and doing more damage than good.

Lotte***