What are these little dust sized bugs?

gemini9 · Apr 10, 2014

Yeah. These I can barely see. White specs like you said. A few of them I could see crawling arouns on the glass

gemini9 · Apr 10, 2014

So I got home from work today, sat here at my computer, looked over at my tank and there are even MORE of those tiny things swimming around! They multiplied like CRAAAZY and now they are all over the place. Swimming around. And I cannot understand where they came from. It's actually kinda scary. I hope it's those beneficial pods you all are talking about. If not, then I'm in trouble haha.

gemini9 · Apr 10, 2014

I think I killed them. ahhh. I just added some dry rock and did about a 20% water change and now I can see dead little bugs... pods...

jrbates08 · Apr 10, 2014

Way to go....lol jk. Well at least now u don't gave to stress about what they are. Examine a dead one and see if u can get a better idea of what it may be

gemini9 · Apr 11, 2014

Oo! Wait! There are still a few alive! Wooohoooo! Go bugs go! (Can imagine how excited I'll be when I finally get fish lol)

gemini9 · Apr 15, 2014

Ok so I wanted to see if I still had my dust bugs and if they were alive so I turned off my powerhead and hob filter to still the water and behold! There are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of these little dust pod things jetting around in there! It's actually kinda scary. I mean, they are BAD. So, bad, in fact, that my water actually looks cloudy/dirty because of them. they are in there by the thousands! Many are swimming/jetting around and thousands more are still, as if they are dead... just.. yeah. Dead. I'm not kidding, these little things have taken over my tank. I would take one out to look at it, but they are soooo small I wouldn't even be able to. But seriously, it's kinda freaky... is this normal? They are everywhere... crawling on the glass... sitting on the glass... swimming around... even DYING all over the place. I mean it's nice to actually have something in there to look at... but an infestation of ... dust sized pod things? :neutral:

gemini9 · Apr 15, 2014

OMG there are some bigger ones on the side of the glass!!!!!

They keep coming out! omg! It's like something from a science fiction movie! Here's a video!
20140415 181836 WMV V8 - YouTube

nova65ss · Apr 15, 2014

That looks like a red planaria flatworm. Not harmful at all but can become unsightly if they get out of control.

gemini9 · Apr 15, 2014

He's about the size of a pinhead but I zoomed in lol

gemini9 · Apr 15, 2014

So this leaves me wondering... with all these things in the water and dying off, that can't be good. Surely that's toxic....

NanaReefer · Apr 15, 2014

Those in the video are CopePods!!! Very beneficial to your tank and a great food source for your fish.
The picture is of a FlatWorm. Not the Red Planaria variety however. Yours is a harmless algae grazer.

Do you have any fish in your tank?

gemini9 · Apr 15, 2014

I was flipping out. They are completely out of control. Is it normal to have that many copepods? I'm about a month in my cycle. My nitrates are sky high and I'm going to begin bi weekly water changes to get them down. All the copepods dying off, will this cause a spike in my parameters? I'm not finished my cycle yet and cannot introduce any fish to eat them at this time.