Possible Ick problem!!

[platycrazy19]

So I was checking out my 10g community tank today and noticed these little white dots all over my drift wood. upon closer inspection they move! It definitely looks like Ick but I checked all my fish and it doesn't look like any of them are infected with it, just my driftwood. I know the best way to treat it is to use aquarium salt and turn up the heater. First I want to know if this is Ick. Next I have RCS, an upside down catfish and otocinclus in my tank, I want to make sure adding salt won't hurt them because I heard catfish are sensitive to salt. Also my heater doesn't have a thermostat on it so I can't adjust the temp it only maintains it around 78.

 

[LyndaB]

It's not ich so don't treat it as such. Possibility is planaria. Google pics of it and see if that's what it is. That can be caused by overfeeding and is not harmful to the tank unless it really gets allowed to take over.

Don't forget, too, that there is most likely a current in your tank. If these things moved, it could just be food particles caught up in a current.

 

[platycrazy19]

I looked up pictures of planaria and they don't look quite like that. They are small round white dots. And it wasn't from the current they definitely were crawling over the driftwood.

 

[platycrazy19]

Here is a picture of them and a video I took of it.

 

[LyndaB]

It looks and sounds like mites to me, not ich. I don't believe ich crawls like you're describing.

What is your feeding schedule? How long has the tank been set up? What are your readings?

 

[Starka]

Creepy. Do any fish eat them?

 

[platycrazy19]

I usually feed them once a day, occasionally skipping the weekends when I go home. They get regular flake food and occasionally frozen blood worms. sometimes I'll feed extra flake food to ensure that my catfish and RCS get some of the food.
The tank has been set up for about 7 months
my reads are:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
10 nitrate

If these are mites are they harmful? if so how do I get rid of them?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

http://www.planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html
Take a look at this. Do any of these look the same?

 

[skywhitney]

Here is a picture of them and a video I took of it.

I had these in my java moss tank that I had going for a while. I had no fish in there (so needless to say i wasn't overfeeding) but there were tons of them. After doing some research I found that their most likely identification was copepods. The eat decaying plant matter (DW included) and are harmless to fish (my bottom dwellers actually munch on them). I never had any problems with them but be careful not to overfeed and a gravel vac would probably help to thin out their numbers if you don't like them.

Do they look like a little white dot with two tails? Check near the gravel line, you might be able to see some there.

 

[bob mccoy]

i have them also in my parrot cichlid tank . i was told they will not hurt the fish. and some fish will eat them. do a few good water changes and siphon them out if u don't want them. i found them on youtube also.

 

[platycrazy19]

copepods is a possibility because I do have a few plants in my tank whose leaves have started to decay and regrow. As for two tails they are so small I would need to put one under a microscope to tell.

 

[skywhitney]

copepods is a possibility because I do have a few plants in my tank whose leaves have started to decay and regrow. As for two tails they are so small I would need to put one under a microscope to tell.

you can see if they are ever near the glass and you look close. The only reason I saw them is cause my moss was just in a 2g tank.