tiny white bugs!

[crazyfisherman88]

if i look very closely there are tiny white bugs crawling all over my fish and there floating all over the tank ther are almost naked to the human eye. and every so often i can see a tiny almost thread like worm floating around and wigling what the heck are these things and how do i get rid of them please help

 

[crazyfisherman88]

and one of my fish wont eat and has clear poo.

 

[vamptrev]

the small bugs might be fish lice and the worms sound like planaria. sounds like very bad and unhealthy water parameters. the lice can do alot of damage. if it is lice u need a medicine that will kill argulus. an id of the parasite is a must because not all medicines treat all parasites

 

[guppy]

The worms might be planaria or even microworms, the little bugs are probably one of the copepod group, fish lice (argula) tend to be fairly large (up to a quarter inch). Water quality and tank cleanliness are important in clearing these up, water changes and gravel vaccing will help, as well as making sure you don't overfeed, Clear, stringy poop is usually a sign of protozoal infections of the gut, A mix of praziquantel, metrodazinole, and levimisol should help with all of these. Jungle's antiparasite tank buddies, and thier anti parasite food contain this mix.

 

[crazyfisherman88]

i dont think its fish lice because there allmost microscopic but thants for the advice on the clear poo.

 

[guppy]

If the tiny bugs move in a jerky fashion, they are probably one one the thousands of types of copepods such as daphnia or cyclops, excellent food for very small fish, and the vast majority are harmless (feeding on bacteria and plankton). Keeping the tank ane water very clean will get rid of most of them. Most anti-ick meds will kill them. Try googling under copepod for images and further info.

 

[crazyfisherman88]

ya i think they are copepods cause they do kinda jerk around alot. thanks.

 

[crazyfisherman88]

After treating with ich meds how long do u think it will take till it starts killing them or how long should i treat water?

 

[guppy]

Tell you the truth, I have never bothered to treat for them, the only tanks I had them show up in were communitty tanks containing small fish and lots of plants. The fish kept the population low and seemed to like hunting them down. I would just try the reccomended length of treatment on whichever med you have used. If it doesn't work you could always try copper sulfate but just making sure the tank is very clean gets rid of most of them.

I would be more concerned with the intestinal problem, hexamita is usually the culprit protozoan and as well as causing general ill health it can lead to HITH.

 

[crazyfisherman88]

well my flowerhorn with the intestinal problem died and now theres nutin in the tank so i just want to make sure these little things wont get another fish sick when i put one in. so i guess ill just cycle the tank for a week or so.