what are these weird little "living things" in my 6gallon tank?

Question

They are extremely small, smaller than a flea. they look like a small fluffly white ball with a tail. They seem to "scooch" in water. Are they good or bad, harmless? How do I kill them. I only found two so far. I heard salt and hi-temp kill most microliveforms

definitely not fry, I don't do breeding. I just got 2 cherry barbs for the 6g today. I noticed these "shrimpies" when the barbs were still in the bag. The whole tank is a tropical freshwater.

They look like the cyclops Copperhead showed me, are those deadly to the fishs' enviroment?

Answer 1

If these are very small and swim with "jerky" motions, I'd think these were either cyclops (click on the "crustacean" water droplet): http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html or daphnia (also called a water flea): http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html

Unser most circumstances these would be harmless, but some crustaceans (anchorworm) are parasitic, but have a free-swimming larval stage - see this link for a photo of an adult anchorworm attacted to a fish: http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/anchor_worms/ The antiparisitic medications mentioned by MM will get rid of them.

They might also be larval shrimp (ghost shrimp) if there were adults for sale where you bought your fish: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/photos/crustaceans/shrimp/shrimplet.jpg

Answer 2

Odds are very high you are seeing harmless life in your tank such as daphnia, mosquito larvae, Midge larvae or something similar. If you have small egg laving fish, it's possible you are seeming fry, but that's unlikely as adults usually eat eggs and fry as they are laid or hatch.

There is also of course the outside chance you are seeing a parasite. If this is the case you are dealing with a parasite that salt in a level safe for fish will not kill and you will need a parasite medication such as clout or maracide to handle the problem. If you see these "bugs" attaching themselves to your fish within the next day, then you have a parasite problem, otherwise it's nothing harmful and your fish will probably eat them.

MM

Answer 3

there are lots of little things they could be from baby fish to brine shrimp to parasites. any idea where they came from? salt at 1 tablespoon disovled in 5 gallons will kill most little stuff. it will kill of some plants and fish too so be careful before you use it.

Answer 4

What kind of fish are in the tank? Are you sure it's not fry?