little (edible?) bugs

[qaffle]

A while back I bought some plants from my LFS and put them in my tank without of course going through the effort to bleach or do any other sort of sanatizing.  
Then a few days later I noticed a bunch of little white bugs in my tank...  My water at the time was extremely green so I didn't really know how bad the problem was and at first I just ignored it.  Then I decided to get some meds..
Anyway,
**MAIN POINT HERE***
I still have these little white bugs in my tank.  They appear to have some sort of exoskeleton, they haven't been affected at all by copper based meds, my fish appear unaffected, and the fish actually appear to eat them when they are free-floating in the water and not sitting on the side.
Does anyone have any idea what I may have?  ??? I've considered lice but shouldn't my fish be dying off or at least be getting spots?

 

[aznpanther98]

is it stuck on the side of the glass?
my guess is if they're crawling on the glass theyre tiny baby snails(meaning u didn't get all the eggs lol)  but they're not all bad they actually get leftover foods and junk fish can't get to... i perfer mts snails they burrow into the gravel and don't eat plants i got tons of them in my 10gal but if u don't want snails clown loaches do the job or just  *crazysmiley* *crazysmiley* *crazysmiley* *crazysmiley* *crazysmiley* when they are bigger

 

[qaffle]

No I'm sure they aren't snails, there are too many of them and they don't look anything like snails.
There are hundreds of these little bugs, they're a whitish color..
I think they may be munching on my plants, but have no true evidence of this.

 

[qaffle]

btw when i said fish lice i meant they look like regular lice just underwater.
Small little bugs about * big and appearing to not be very good swimmers....
here's one for luck *twirlysmiley*

 

[luvfishies]

Planaria? Hydra?

The green water indicates too many nutrients in the water, which hydra love. They are harmless, fish eat them, but they do indicate overfeeding.

 

[colesea]

White streaks on the glass, kinda makes the glass look like it is scratched or has white dust on it, more prevelent at night:
1) Baby snails. Yes, believe it or not, larval snails look nothing like adult snails. They hatch microscopically and develop a shell as they grow. Until then, many species kinda look slug like or worm like.

Thin "angel hair" like white strands free-floating and wriggling in the water, more prevelent when the bottom is stirred up:
2) Dirt worms. I have no idea what the true name of these are, but I've seen them before, have had them in tanks before, and they are completely harmless. It just means there is a whole lot of junk on the bottom of your tank. Gravel vaccing regularly is the best way to control them.

A sort of disk shaped, yellow spotted critter attached to fish. Sometimes free-swimming:
3) Argulus, aka fish lice. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it. They're big suckers, bigger than a person would've thought. They lay their eggs in white lines along plant leaves and the glass, and these are stationary. But most likely if you are really observent, you'll see the adults on the fish before you'll notice the eggs. The first time I saw argulus, I nearly flipped out. Had to pull the thing off of a koi. It was pretty cool looking.

Little round greenish-brown critter "hopping" through the water.
4) Daphnia, water flea. Harmless and is in fact very good food for fresh water fishes.

Slow moving, along the glass and gravel, tongue shaped, usually grayish-white. Has a three-lobed head and two noticable "eye spots" on the anterior end
5) Planaria. A flatworm. Harmless yet interesting critters of alot of biological study. Is definately an indication of overfeeding.

Stationary, fuzzy, sways with the current, thin and whispy. Clear to yellowish-white.
6)Hydra. Not as harmless as one might think. They do have lots of stinging cells and if the colony is left to take over the tank the stings could do damage to the fish. Best way to get rid of them is to wipe the glass off all the time and do complete gravel vacs. Usually they are pretty responsive to copper though.

Hope this helps.
~~Colesea