Can you see bacteria??

[Ottermus]

Was wondering if anyone knows if you can see the bacteria living in the tank?
Whilst doing a water change I noticed some tiny little creatures swimming around the surface of the water against the glass! They were really really small, maybe a mm or two in size, I really had to look closely and they were making little darting movements.
Just wondered if anyone can shed any light on the matter?

 

[Alkane]

Nah you can't see 99.9% of bacteria species. Those are most likely copepods or amphipods! Cool little crustaceans that are a good snack for your fish .

 

[HN1]

Those are likely copepods. Bacteria is not visible to the naked eye in our tanks.

 

[Ottermus]

Thanks for the quick response, was a little worried it could've been something nasty

 

[Alkane]

Here's a picture of a copepod I took through a microscope. This is a saltwater species.

 

[Ottermus]

Interesting, I wonder how they get into the tank in first place?

 

[Alkane]

If you have live plants or moss that's probably where they came from.

They have the ability to encyst and survive some extreme conditions

"The cysts of Copepods can survive on the bottom of a vernal pool for a long time. When scientists found Copepod cysts that were 300 years old, they put them in water and watched them hatch!"

 

[Ottermus]

No live plants or moss, only thing I can think of would be a piece of bog wood