# please help me identify small white organisms in my tank



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

i am a relative newbie to fish. have had a 26 gallon tank for 9 months.
i have had a few deaths due to poor maintenance and ignorance already, but had finally been keeping things running well.

i have 2 adult mollies, 1 juvenile mollie, 2 platies, 4 red tetras, 2 ghost catfish, 2 albino cory catfish, 1 green cory, and one algae eater.

about 3 weeks ago, we noticed a bunch of tiny white fry looking organisms hiding in the rocks and among the fake plants. 

we assumed they were fry because they had just appeared. now it is 3 weeks later and we have more than before and they are the same size.
i caught one and tried to get a photo of it, but it is too small.

there are hundreds of them in my tank, but not visible unless you look closely.
they are about the size of a flea and look similar. 

can someone help me identify these things and also tell me if they are good, bad, or indifferent to the health of my tank

many thanks

btw... i feed twice a day in small amounts that they eat in about 2 minutes or less. i mainly feed flake food from petsmart, but once in a while throw in some dried brine

[email protected]


----------



## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Do see big eyes on a small body or tail? If so this could be more than one fish having fries at different times but are constantly getting eaten as they get bigger, so you only see the very young ones. Do you notice if any of your fish look like they are carrying babies/eggs?

If it does not look like the above my next guess would be planaria. They are small white worm like organisms that come about from overfeeding typically. If it is this, you should see some on your glass as well.


----------



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

i dont think they are planaria
they are small and almost round.
they look like small white fish with no tail since they move around the tank on their own. 

when i caught some and looked at them under a microscope, they looked more like a flea than a fish.

they are not on the glass.


----------



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

any suggestions from the forum on how i can identify these creatures.


----------



## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

If you could get a picture from the scope, maybe...

You never answered if any of your fish looked pregnant.

hmmm...maybe baby water beetle of some kind?


----------



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

good point. the platies and the mollies both look pregnant.
the white platy has been sitting down near the bottom of the tank

i will try to get some pictures and post them

thank you for your reply


----------



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

here are a few pics from the tank
also, the white platy died two days ago. ammonia levels are safe


----------



## Plecostamus (Mar 15, 2009)

I'm not an expert, but they look like the might be some kind of Copepod.

Here's the Wikipedia article on Copepods.
Copepod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## jay (Mar 16, 2009)

i think you may be right. i finally put one of them under a microscope and they have two eyes inside a crustacean like translucent shell. you cannot see any ridges or sections in the shell, it appears to be one solid shell. they also have several very thin and translucent legs that i could only see under a low powered microscope. after they dried up, i pushed on the body with a pencil tip and the shell cracked in two almost like it was thin glass.


----------



## Plecostamus (Mar 15, 2009)

They sound like copepods to me then.

Although I actually have something similar (which I believe to be juvenille snails) in my tank. But the have no legs and live near the waterline so I don't think that's what you have.


----------

