Crap! White bugs

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
U

ultimatejay

Piranha
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2006
2,208
65
81
USA
Man I have been having a bad run of luck with stuff in my tanks lately. Now I have these small tiny white bugs in my tank all over. They are so small it is hard to make them out, but they crawl and jump around all over the inside walls of the tank. What do you think they are and are they harmful to my fish? Maybe copepods? I also have what looks like hydra. Clear jelly-like things that look like tiny trees or hands. What's going on? I have had fish for over 15 years and I have never had either of these critters. :swear: What do you think I should do?
 
The second thing definitely sounds like Hydra.
 
Those white bugs are known as planaria, they're tiny white worms u see crawling on the tank walls & in the water, they're harmless to fish but can be unsightly. U can do a hundred per cent water change & give the tank a good scrubbing but they can never be fully eradicated. Adding a labyrinth fish to your tank may help as they're known to feed on planaria. Some breeders actually feed planaria to fries.

It's been said that feeding fish a nutrient rich diet will cause this problem. Salt hasn't worked for me, methylene blue in high doses will kill off these worms but it's detrimental to fish. There's a product in the market known as VermeX which u may want to consider.
 
Since you said they jump and swim about they sound like copepods and while there are parasitic ones almost all are harmless. A very clean tank reduces copepods and there are small fish that eat both but meds like paraguard, parasite clear, and cupramine will kill them. It depends on your fish and your attitudes towards "critters" as to if you want to use them, hydras are harmless to fish larger than fry and the are probably eating the copepods
 
Any copper based med such as cupramine, clout, para-guard all kill copepods, I sort of like them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom