What are these weird critters?

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Abaddon

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Hi
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My planted freshwater nano tanks have recently had an explosion of weird white spots which I haven't been able to identify. They're definitely not snail eggs, limpets, cyclops, hydra, planaria or any of the other common culprits (I've seen all of those before & this is something different). They don't seem to be bothering the fish or shrimps, but I'd still like to know what they are, just to be sure. I've never seen them move, but there seem to be more and more of them & only on the glass. My bettas aren't interested in them, and neither are the shrimps. Nothing new was added to the tank, except a different kind of fertilizer (all-in-one for shade plants) and some catappa leaves. I first noticed them after I pulled a lot of the plants and trimmed a big clump of moss - they seemed to "come out of hiding", so to speak, & have since taken up residence on the tank walls. They're rounded, no more than half a millimetre long, with little white dots inside of them and a second, smaller round part attached to the "main" body.
Any ideas on what they could be? Should I be worried, or is it just harmless plankton?
IMG_20210611_023524.jpg
IMG_20210611_023348.jpg
 
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Hey there,

Looks like you have Copepods or Amphipods. No need to panic! They are mainly harmless and even are a snack for fish, however the only thing you want to keep an eye out is if you have slower fish like Gouramis or Angels, your fish can get exhausted and die from trying to catch them, or they can try to catch it so hard that they hit their head on the tank, killing your fish, other than that, keep a close eye on it and you should be fine!
 
Strange! I've never seen anything like that. Will be interested to see if anyone can id them.
think they can be copepods, or amphipods, they mostly appear in saltwater, and its pretty rare to see it in freshwater, consider the owner of this tank lucky!
 
think they can be copepods, or amphipods, they mostly appear in saltwater, and its pretty rare to see it in freshwater, consider the owner of this tank lucky!
ooooh
cool!
so they can live in both?
 
think they can be copepods, or amphipods, they mostly appear in saltwater, and its pretty rare to see it in freshwater, consider the owner of this tank lucky!
Hmmmm, they definitely aren't copepods. I've never experienced amphipods (I believe you're right that they're mostly saltwater), but these don't sound like those, either. For one thing, these don't look like crustaceans. Wrong shape, though the size could be about right for copepods. For another thing, they don't act like copepods. The OP said he's never seen them move, and copepods act like a room full of kindergarteners. Nobody would ever confuse a healthy copepod with a snail egg or a limpet. :)
 
Hmmmm, they definitely aren't copepods. I've never experienced amphipods (I believe you're right that they're mostly saltwater), but these don't sound like those, either. For one thing, these don't look like crustaceans. Wrong shape, though the size could be about right for copepods. For another thing, they don't act like copepods. The OP said he's never seen them move, and copepods act like a room full of kindergarteners. Nobody would ever confuse a healthy copepod with a snail egg or a limpet. :)
i wonder, are they microscopic?
 
Those pictures WERE taken through a magnifier 😅 Without it, they would've just looked like dust or dandruff. But I've got another one, so I'll try again - maybe the photos will be better. Unfortunately I don't have a microscope at hand.
 
Nah, sorry, I can't do any better, they're too small. The photos I uploaded are as clear as it's gonna get. These things are much smaller than limpets, most of them are even smaller than adult cyclops, and they are basically motionless - if they move at all, then it's pretty much imperceptible. I'm not even sure it's an animal at all, but it definitely looks organic.
 
Nah, sorry, I can't do any better, they're too small. The photos I uploaded are as clear as it's gonna get. These things are much smaller than limpets, most of them are even smaller than adult cyclops, and they are basically motionless - if they move at all, then it's pretty much imperceptible. I'm not even sure it's an animal at all, but it definitely looks organic.
Smaller than limpets?....I'm surprised you even saw them to begin with...but I must admit, I'm old and my vision ain't what it used to be, lol
 
Well, to answer your last question, I doubt they're anything to worry about. Little critters like this crop up all the time in my tanks. I consider them part of the wonder of creating micro-environments.
That was my first thought as well, but I wanted to double check. Also, I'm just kind of curious, since I've never seen anything like it.
 

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