Tiny Little Creatures in my Tank

[V3rmilion]

About a month and a half ago I upgraded from a cheap, 6 gallon acrylic tank to a 10 gallon glass tank. A month later some algae started to grow and I didn’t think much of it because I have a snail and it can just eat it up. Then today I noticed some tiny white specks on the algae. They were moving around so I assumed they were some sort of shrimp, and I haven’t seen anymore not on algae so they’re probably eating it. My betta and mystery snail don’t seem to care very much about them, and they aren’t causing any problems.

I used to have two mystery snails, but one unfortunately died. I believe they mated though, because there is a tiny snail that is sometimes visible. I also have 6 plants, two fake plants, and a Marimo moss ball.

My parameters are:

pH: 7.5
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite and Nitrate: 0 ppm
KH: 80 ppm
GH: 180 ppm

If you know anything, please let me know in the comments!

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I've got a couple hundred of those right now - I call them snails. Just a different species or perhaps still young. Slippery little suckers they are a pain to pick out of your aquarium. I even found one inside of my filter. I have a terrible out of control snail problem. Most likely they rode in with your live plants. When I bought my first plants for my first aquarium - I rinsed them all off with water very well but still - two weeks later a crop of snails hatched and the population has grown and grown. Some are actually rather pretty but most of them look like these - little pods (that are often empty - so the snail may have left for a bigger shell. I pick about 30-50 per day of these and other snails out of my tank everyday. Supposedly if you dip your plants in a 1% part bleach water for 30 minutes or so you'll kill any snake eggs but you may also damage your plant. There is copper sulfate? I believe but it kills fish and snails so that's no solution unless you have no fish in the tank and can do a complete rinse multiple times before fish are put back in.. Just remove them as you can (I have trouble picking these ups) throw them out. I know there are snail lovers out there but these are a pain.

My biggest mistake was ignoring the first 2 or 3 snails - now it's just out of control. Yes, some do eat algae and eat leftover food but the have such short lives you end up with a lot of dead snails that contribute to the amount of ammonia and nitrate in the tank.

Sorry

 

[Colin_T]

If the white specs on the glass look like a Y, and flick about in a jerky motion, they are copepods (cyclops).
If they and I shaped, and slide about slowly, they are detritus worms.
If they don't move and look like they have tentacles, they are hydra.

None of them are a concern unless you have baby fish in the tank.

 

[rjthevagabond]

If the white specs on the glass look like a Y, and flick about in a jerky motion, they are copepods (cyclops).
If they and I shaped, and slide about slowly, they are detritus worms.
If they don't move and look like they have tentacles, they are hydra.

None of them are a concern unless you have baby fish in the tank.

I thought those you just listed where infusoria and ther fry love that stuff???

 

[Colin_T]

Infusoria are normally paramecium, which are single celled organisms. Planaria, detritus worms, hydra, copepods are all multi-celled organisms.

Paramecium and copepods swim about in the water. Planaria and detritus worms usually live in the gravel or on plants. Hydra live on plants, ornament or any hard surface in the tank.

 

[V3rmilion]

If the white specs on the glass look like a Y, and flick about in a jerky motion, they are copepods (cyclops).
If they and I shaped, and slide about slowly, they are detritus worms.
If they don't move and look like they have tentacles, they are hydra.

None of them are a concern unless you have baby fish in the tank.

They appear to be detritus worms because they are I shaped and are moving slowly across the algae.
Do they cause any benefits or will my snail/betta will eat them?

 

[Colin_T]

Detritus worms don't have much use in a tank apart from eating a bit of organic matter in the substrate. Fish, snails and shrimp won't eat them.

 

[V3rmilion]

Detritus worms don't have much use in a tank apart from eating a bit of organic matter in the substrate. Fish, snails and shrimp won't eat them.

Update:
Now there are a bunch of tiny little brown specks in one clump on the fish tank wall. I assumed they were dead detritus worms but they look a bit bigger than the ones that are alive. Any guesses?

 

[Colin_T]

snail poop