Tiny White Moving Dots on Glass

shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
I noticed tonight that there are very small white dots on my glass that seem to be moving. A picture would not even be possible they are so small but they are moving so I think they are alive. Any ideas what these are? Please tell me these are just some kind of harmless pods and not ich or something like that. All fish appear normal.
 
mpls man

mpls man

Active Member
I have the same thing on my tank, they only seem to come out when the lights are out at night, I believe they are small snails, and i dont think they are harmless, i have lots in the tank.
 
S

scighera

Guest
I saw the same things on my glass (small white dots with tiny tiny legs) when I had ich, and once the ich dissipeard so did the dots
The tomite stage, are the products of the parasite reproducing. They become free-swimming in the aquarium as theronts. [cycle timeframe, approx 4 days at 77-80 degrees water temp].
The theront stage of ich are free-swimming protozoans that must locate a host fish within several hours, or die trying. This is the stage when fish become vulnerable to infection. The infection is transmitted through the water column.
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
They are all over the glass but not noticeable unless you really look for them. The light has been on for about 8 hours and is about to shut off. I have not introduced any new fish. Does ich develop out of no where or does it have to come from an infected animal? I cannot see any legs on the dots at all, they are too small.
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
These are too small to tell that they are anything. Yours must be bigger if you can tell they appear like snails.
 
undulate*

undulate*

Member
lol my bad i have never experienced ick but it can come on the fish and can come due to stress to my knowledge:notsure:
Reid
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
I just thought of something that may factor into this:
I noticed a snail or two the other day shooting out little white particles. I didn't know if it was spawning or just going to the bathroom. I really have no idea how snails even reproduce. Anyone? Also, how many offspring do they have at a time? There are a lot of these little white things on my glass. They seem to move too fast relative to their body size though to be snails...
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
I am almost positive they are copepods on the glass...even if you don't have LR per se, if you have snails there is a hard surface and most likely had copepods on them which are now in the tank. Most likely, IMO. They are almost like teeny tiny ants. Really tiny.
Now if they are dots with legs sticking out randomly...but maybe pin head size, they might be a type of hydroid. Do a search on google for Staurocladia.
It is quite possible that your snail was spawning, but very unlikely you will be over run with snails :) Don't worry about that.
 
undulate*

undulate*

Member
Yah i agree with ophiura because if you have crushed coral maybe the copepods came in with them and if they are copepods dont get worried cause they are harmless and are in most people aquariums and usually come out under darkness. If they are bugging you on the glass scrape them off with a magnet.
Reid
 
vinsaltank

vinsaltank

Member
I have them once in a while on my tank. My Green Dragonet spends hours hovering around the glass, picking them off 1 at a time. So I assumed that everything is good.
Gte one of these guys.
He'll appreciate those little moving specks.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Here's the pic before I blew it up. (To indicate how small it is...) The green slashes are the algae that remains after you've gone across the glass with an algae scraper. Very thin, but it's hard to tell:rolleyes:
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
they are so small it is hard to tell but they are more tube like than that. those kind of look like spiders or bugs. They don't appear to be the same. what are those? i don't have a magnifying glass but these things are so small i can't tell much about them. I noticed them by accident. Too small to notice unless you have your eye right up by the glass.
 
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