# White Lice-like Bugs in the water!



## ThirdPotato (Feb 10, 2010)

Hi, I was up real close to my fish's tank when I noticed hundreds of these tiny pin-prick sized white lice-shaped bugs crawling in small circles on the inside surface of his tank! It's a 2 gallon tank, heater keeping the water around 82 degrees, 3 live plants, all water stats are fine, I just changed his tank this past weekend. I change my fish's tank 100% weekly. Should I use Parasite Clear??

I didn't think much of it till I saw these bugs, but my fish occassionally "coughs' lots and lots of tiny bubbles, and does these little chewing motions as bubbles fly out of his gills, then he is back to normal. 

Ugh they're so gross, what should I do??


----------



## newlynothere (Jul 27, 2010)

I have no idea what they are... but if i were you i would hold off on the parasite off stuff and just try changing the water again and rinsing out all the gravel and decorations and everything to see if that helps?


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

http://planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html

Check this site out and see if you can find your bugs, often critters in out tanks is a good sign of health and others can be a sign of poor care.

Since you have live plants in your 2g tank I would make twice weekly 50% water changes- only making 100% rarely


----------



## ThirdPotato (Feb 10, 2010)

Thanks for the reply; thats a great link. Though I don't know that I see the bugs on that site. They're SO tiny they can't be measured in mm. They're literally maybe the size of the very tip of a pin. It's almost like a magic eye. You have took long and hard before you realize his whole tank has these dust-speck white dots moving in concentric circles.

I have 2 tanks for my fish, and swap him alternatingly a week. I kept his old water in the spare tank where I saw that old water also had the bugs. So I bombed the spare tank with a full tablet of Parasite clear (good for 10gal tank) in hopes of overkilling the bugs, but even overnight, doesn't look like any of them died.


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Personally I would not do anything, especially chemicals, the mass death of the bugs could cause an ammonia spike.
With water comes aquatic critters and most are harmless and often eaten by the fish too, the bugs can be beneficial as well in completion of a closed ecosystem and help with keeping the tank free of the bad stuff.


----------



## ThirdPotato (Feb 10, 2010)

Okay, but are you sure they're not harmful? I didn't put any chemicals in his tank. I said I put it in the spare, to test if it would work, but it didn't. 

It doesn't look right. there's literally millions of these tiny things, and some stick to him... That's a good thing?


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I can't say they are good or bad without seeing them...can you post a pic?
If the chemicals did not kill them in the spare tank..then it maybe something else....


----------



## ThirdPotato (Feb 10, 2010)

Unfortunately I can't. They're so very very tiny, even on Macro. I'll try to see what I can do, maybe if I take it at the full 9megapixels.


----------

