ID-little white bugs

[amazonwoman]

I have these tiny little white bugs crawling around on the driftwood in my 20 gallon. They are multiplying fast and it seems like they are eating at the wood-I'm planning on tearing down the tank and boiling the wood to get rid of them unless someone can tell me what they are and give me a less evasive way to get rid of them.

 

[TankGirl]

They could be nematodes, which come about from overfeeding and some fish will eat them, but because they are not in the gravel (assumption) it might not be them. In any case, my personal preference would be to go ahead and remove the driftwood and sterilize it, or replace it, just because if they are colonizing on a removable object then it makes it easy.

 

[amazonwoman]

Thanks for the response. I took them out once and boiled them and within a few days I could see the tiny white critters again. I have just bleached everything and then dechlored it all and I'll be starting over again-I will put everything from my non-infected 10 gallon into the 20 so I won't have (hopefully) any new-tank problems.

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya and welcome to AquariumAdvice amazonwoman

Just a FYI. Do keep a close eye on your water parameters since you will be basically starting from scratch with your bacterial colonies.

 

[amazonwoman]

Allivymar-You don't think that adding everything-gravel, rocks, decorations, and filter from my well-established 10 gallon will get the colonies started really quickly?

 

[Allivymar]

Duh yeah LOL I misread your post (is what I get for posting early in the morn) LOL

As long as the 10g is cycled it SHOULD help cycle the 20 quickly; do keep in mind the stuff in the 10g is enough to handle the amount of fish that was kept in there. If more were kept in the 20g, it may take a very short while for the bacteria colonies to catch up.