Small critters in tank

[mxfj40]

I have a 34g. tank with mollies,platys,hatchets.gouramis and one male and one female betta. They all seem to be doing fine but I noticed several whitish specs crawling in the gravel. The male betta and a hatchet have a few white specs on them also. Is this a parasite or something? What methods should I use to rid the tank of these? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[mxfj40]

I collected a bunch of these critters and had a science teacher look at them under a microscope. He said they are Daphnia (water fleas). Everything I read about Daphnia says that the fish eat them and they even sell them for fish food. I suspect that the eggs were brought into my tank from frozen bloodworms but I'm not sure. Should I proceed on trying to rid the tank of these or just leave them? How would I get rid of them? Someone suggested shocking the water with bleach and statring all over.

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya mfxj:

I think you may have 2 issues in your tank. One is the daphnia (very cool idea bringing it in to the science teacher!). Not a major problem; they probably are breeding because there is enough food to support them. Increase your gravel vacs, reduce your amount of food and hope the fish discover how yummy they are. The combo of the 3 should help reduce the population (and they aren't dangerous at all).

I'm more concerned about the white specs on the fish. Do they look like grains of salt? If so, the fish probably have ich, which is a parasite and not at all related to the daphnia issue. If so, I strongly suggest reading this site, which will explain what ich is, its life cycle and the ways you can treat it: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/fish/notes_ich.html