I have little white bugs in my water!

[sarah]

i dont know what they are but im worried about the axies and if it will effect them. i tryed to take a pic but the camera could not focus on them cos they r too small, so i drew of what they look like on paintshop

they r small little ovals, some looked like they had 1 tail and some had 2.
They are everywhere!

 

[joan]

Look like copepods http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/imgs/male1.jpg Does this look like what you have?. This is normal, give or take. Do some water changing, and clean up uneaten food/poo. Maybe siphon the substrate more often.

But it's normal to have microorganisms in your tank. Copepods are a pretty normal 'bug' to have. They usually start as an explosion, and then get back down to more managable numbers. You'll probably never get rid of them, and you shouldn't try. It's usually more harmful to try to get rid of them than it is to just live with them.

 

[james]

I had some of those in my tank, Or something extremely similar, They came when I put some new plants in my tank, I used a bit of Methylene Blue and did some water changes and I never saw them again.

But like Joan said they seemed to reduce in number by themselves. And they never seemed to bother my Axolotl anyway.

 

[sarah]

yes joan thats what i have. if they dont develop into anything nasty i wont worry too much.

 

[joan]

That's the adult stage you're seeing. They don't develop into anything else. Unsightly, maybe. But definately not anything to freak out about.

 

[jolly]

Can baby axies eat them?

 

[joan]

Copepods can be predatory. Larger babies may be able to eat them.

 

[amber]

Don't worry, we all get them from time to time.
The only sort you want to watch out for are the ones that transform into anchor worm, but that's fairly rare.
I've only ever had it happen once in my tank.

You can use Parazin P to kill off copepods and anchor worm without harming your filter or axolotl, however, it WILL kill any crustacean/shrimps.
I used it with great success, and you can buy tablets from any good aquatics store.

 

[forrest]

woudlnt it be easyer to buy a fish that eats those then the axolotl will eat the fish eventualy?

a guppy comes to my mind.