Freshwater fleas? What is this?

[Jnam]

I was doing a PWC last night and I noticed tine < 1mm white specs jumping around on the surface of the water. They were so tiny they didnt break the surface tension. Then i saw a larger one about 1mm. It was too tiny to get a picture so i have drawn what it looks like. I thought at first it was just my CO2 gassing off as popping bubbles but what ever it is its alive. I googled water fleas and came up with some links for daphnia and cyclops and actuall water fleas. All i could figure out was that those are all crustaceans and harmless even food for some filter feeders. But i am not 100% convinced that is what they are.

All the fish look healthy and i dont see anything "on" them

The animals move like fleas they dont swim but the more jump or ping from place to place

here is the pic of the biggest one its the best i can do...

 

[fort384]

LOL. If nothing else, that is an incredibly detailed drawing

 

[bs6749]

Copepods by the looks of it. Here's some general info:

Copepod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Jnam]

would copepods live ontop of the water? These are like mini pond skippers they dont swim in the water rather walk on top[?

 

[Peyton]

I've had those things for years, they're harmless and fish will eat them. Personally I only see them in my tanks that have eco-complete. I never had them in my tanks before EC but they always turned up after adding it as a substrate. Same with hydra. I had one tank set up for 6+ years and never seen one until I replaced the substrate with EC.