Small White Bugs

[Dwest24]

I am near the end of fish less cycling a new 20g planted tank which has some snails.

The past week I had 2 of the large snails die on me, probably due to lack of food, they are overpopulating the tank with babies, I have about 150 tiny snails in there now...

Anyhow, after the two big ones died I noticed a small climb in ammonia and I reduced my dosage to keep my levels the same.

I was scraping the snails off the glass when I noticed these small almost microscopic bugs crawling on the glass and then shooting off across the tank, they move very rapid. From what I can tell there are a few different types.

I drew a picture of the most common one I can see.

At first they just look like small white specks, and when I looked closer, I notice these very thin hair like legs, and then they swim off.

There are so many of them they are floating everywhere and clouding up my tank. I believe they may be responsible for my ammonia levels staying at a constant 1-2 ppm even when I do not dose over 2 days the ammonia levels are still staying the same...

Anyone know what they are?

 

[Dwest24]

anyone?

I also noticed some small worm like things floating around and flailing about, also crawling on the glass....

 

[Ryan12]

could there be an excessive of nutrients in the tank? i know i got the worms in my tank when i had no fish in my tank but a nutrient rich substrate.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Aliens?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Aliens?

 

[SlyPolak]

The small worms are planaria, harmless... will become a fish snack... usually a sign of overfeeding..

for the other things have a look here---> HITCHHIKERS

 

[the biffster]

is your little critter anything
like this i have had these on my
tanks before there spring tails

 

[Dwest24]

Ok, so I wont worry about them then.

Yes I have a lot of plants and I just added a couple plant supplement tablets in my substrate. Also, my snails have been eating and pooping all over the tank so I guess thats creating food as well.

Thanks for the peace of mind!

 

[Mogs26]

Ok, so I wont worry about them then.

Yes I have a lot of plants and I just added a couple plant supplement tablets in my substrate. Also, my snails have been eating and pooping all over the tank so I guess thats creating food as well.

Thanks for the peace of mind!

I hope I'm not hijacking this post. I have just discovered hundreds of tiny bugs darting all over the tank-like polystyrene in a static environment! I think they are copepods. The article linked to above says they are harmless as long as they're not parasitical, which you can see if they attach to fish. I don't have fish yet, so how do I know if they are parasitical?