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Hey gang,

I had originally posted this in the hospital forum as I believed I had a more immediate problem. It turns out that it does not seem to be a health risk to my fish, so I wanted to move this question out of the hospital forum.

I am looking for someone to shed some light on what I have in my tank.

The tank is either 2.5 or 3 gallon, and currently houses 1 single young male Betta.

This tank did at one point host a few ill Cardinal Tetras as a hospital tank, but was COMPLETELY scrubbed and cleaned prior to setting it up for my Betta. I even removed the old substrate from the tank before changing over to the Betta's current configuration. So we are talking this tank was like brand new before this setup.

I purchased and washed a package of glass beads that I use as a current substrate for the Betta. The tank is a Marineland Explorer tank with a built in Biowheel filter which I have turned off for the Betta. I turn it on every now and then to promote filtration of the water in the tank but I was careful to replace the media prior to setting the tank up for the Betta.

ok.. so back to the point.

I noticed recently while watching my Betta that a few of the specks that were floating in the tank were moving... Everywhere. Up, down, side to side and FAST! These little guys appear to be white, and are no bigger than the dot on this exclaimation mark "!" (some appear to be smaller). I researched Planaria as was suggested, but they just don't appear worm like. It was also suggested they might be baby snails, but because of their motion, I do not believe this to be the case either. I worry that they are some form of crazy microscopic bug, but they do not appear to be hurting my Betta whatsoever. In fact, he seems every now and then to notice them, and tries to eat a few of them. They are not taking over the tank. There are quite a few, but certainly not enough to "Cloud" the tank in any way.

Sorry for the long rant! any thoughts or ideas?

Do they tend to be in the top of the tank? If so, scoop them out and replace with fresh water

Otherwise you should be able to get rid of them by doing frequent water changes...50% today, wait 3-4 days another 50% and so on and so forth, eventually they will be gone

Now why don't you run the filter on the tank? Is the suction too much for the betta? If that is the problem, then find the control switch so that you can decrease the flow to the lowest amount...I know all of my betta tanks do quite well with the filtration as long as it isn't on super high...heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

DanioMan

I would also suggest running a small filter and regular water prepared changes. Unless you know the name of this problem I would not recommend any medicationd.

If you can place the Betta in another tank I would suggest doing a very good clean out and start all over again.

Keith

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Most of those little critters that show up in tanks aren't harmful to fish. If they aren't wiggly lines then it's not planaria. It could be daphnia. They show up as barely visible white dots and only survive in good quality water. Which means your aquarium is actually well maintained. They make great fish food. If they bother you I've heard amquel kills them. There are a variety of other copepods that it could be but they are harmless and tasty to fish.

Thanks for all of your updates!

The filter in the tank is a little powerful for the size of tank. It was fine with 3 neons that I had in there as they enjoyed the current, but my Betta appears to be a little more on the Lazy side, and allows the current to push him towards the filter intake basket (he sometimes lounges out there although he can pull himself off)

I did a 100% water removal in the tank. I took everything out and scrubbed it really well and cleaned everyting. I changed media for the tank and my Betta has been happy ever since. No issues appear to have been coming as a result and all of the little critters do not appear to have returned.

I realize that it may not have been the best idea to 100% clean the tank, but I just couldn't bear with the crawlies in the tank. Thankfully everything seems to be on track.

Thanks to everyone for the info!