What are these tiny white creatures in my tanks?

[BLASK]

In my two tanks are these tiny white living things that are sliding against the glass, fake plant leaves, and even real leaves.

1. 20gal: am-0 nite-0 nate-10 ph 7.4
4 platys, 4 neon tetras, 2 albino corys, 2 khuli loaches, 1 oto

*ive seen the platys sometimes eat them*

i started seeing the guys about a week before i got my first real plant, I would just crush them with my hand and they would smush and fall, i started seeing more and more of them, i figured the oto would take care of it. then i got an amazon swordtail plant in a little black pot with rockwool. I took a big bucket of my aquarium water and had the plant sit in there for about 12hours, somewhat cleaning any derbis out of it. I put it in the tank with the pot and covered it up. next day I decided to take the pot and wool out and plant it. Ever since i see tons of these white guys early in the morning when I turn the lights on. I feed my fish cucumber and i saw a few on the cucumber also. They usually hang out on the very top of the water by the floating food circle (floating plastic circle that prevents flakes from floating around the tank). There are so many now!

2. 20gal: am-0 nite-0 nate-20 ph 7.3
3 platys (1 6month, and 2 3month) and 2 otos

i moved one of the amazon plants over to this tank and a few days later I see the little white guys on the real piece of driftwood I have. The next morning there are tons on the driftwood and in the tank on the glass!!

what are these and how can I get rid of them, and should I get rid of them?
chemicals or fish that eat these.

Thank you!

 

[WILDER]

Does it sound like these.
http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article1.html

 

[BLASK]

no, doesnt look like that at all. im gonna try to get one on a glass slide and look under a microscope. but to the naked eye it looks like a round mite.

i read a bunch of articles on this site after searching for "tiny white" and it seems that whatever they are, they are prolly harmless and just a result of overfeeding or low tank maintenace - this is true, i havent even scraped my alage in months, i better get on top of that.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BLASK

The tiny creatures you see are probably just harmless planaria and if you cut back on the excess food, they will disappear on their own.

There is something else that you should be aware of though. The same conditions that allow them to thrive and reproduce so much are the same things that promote the reproduction of harmful bacteria.

Since you have a number of bottom feeders which are prone to bacterial infections, it would be a good idea to increase the size and/or frequency of your water changes and bottom cleanings as a matter of routine. That is much more important than removing algae.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Sounds like planaria 2 me. I had them once. I fasted my fishies for a day or 2 and stepped up my gravel vac routine. They went away very quickly.