Help Help Help Little White Things EveryWhere

[Lauren_laroo]

Help Me Please! I have a 30gal saltwater aquarium i have 2 clowns 1 blue damsel 1 engineer goby 3 blue leg crabs and 2 naz snails, my filter burned out because we had some power surges and i wasnt here and so i guess my filter pump quit sucking up the water and burned out and now is not working and hasnt been since yesterday i have no money atm and wont have any till Wednesday to buy a new filter pump so there is no air/water circulating and now there is little white things everywhere they look like little white worms some a tad bigger than others and they crawl around fast! i do need to clean the tank out but i dont want to clean until i get a filter because i'm afraid it will stay cloudy and dirty and then my fish die... but does anyone know what these things are? are they baby snails?

[ToddTT]

You need to get a new filter immediately. Borrow money, because you can't wait until Wednesday.

Do you have an airstone and air pump? That will at least get the water moving a little bit, for right now.

Make sure your heater is still working too.

The little white things? Not sure. If they are fast, maybe copepods? Whatever they are, they were always there. Your problem is you need a new filter ASAP. Like today!

BTW, hang on filters are on sale at Petco.

Good luck, and figure out a solution before Wednesday!

[Lauren_laroo]

i dont have an air stone or air pump the heater is still working fine so will the white things hurt anything? my fishes are doing fine they are acting normal and eating normal those white things are scaring me cause i've never seen them before and theres tons of them. i'm waiting for my mom to get off work then i'm gonna call her and ask to borrow moneys (hope she has some) i dont have a petco around here i have a petsmart and pet land and i know petsmart has some cheap ones on sell for $25 and if i can get some money from my mom then i'll go get one of those

[ToddTT]

Little fast moving white things sound like they could be copepods. They are commonly found in tanks with live rock or sand. The vast majority are harmless, and are part of a healthy tank's ecosystem.

You can even purchase them to add to your tank.

I wish my tank had more, some fish like to snack on them.

Good luck getting that filter... tonight!

[Lauren_laroo]

TY SO MUCH!!!! I'm Getting The Filter And Pre-Made Water Here in an hour or so thank God! so i'm getting the aquarium cleaned and hopefully everything will be good! so do the copepods go back to where u cant see them or will they always be visible now?

[ToddTT]

I'm guessing whatever these critters are, they will resume their previous behavior once the filter is running again, and the tank is back to normal.

If not, and they are indeed copepods, you might add a scooter dragonet... they like to eat them.

But before adding anything, you might ask the forum if they think it is a good idea for your tank. I'm not sure if that would be over-populating your tank.

Your tank and fish may be a bit stressed, so you might just hook up the new filter and give it a few days, before "cleaning" it. Too many changes at once will just add more stress.

Also, transferring filter material from the old filter to the new filter will probably help preserve some of the good bacteria in your tank.

Good luck.

[ToddTT]

By the way, here are some copepod images. Keep in mind that they are tiny little critters:

copepod - Google Search

[Lauren_laroo]

TY So So So Much!!so i wont clean it for a few days and i need to take the filter out of the broken filter pump and put it in the new one and then in a few days put a new cartridge right

[ToddTT]

If your filter has more than one filtering item in it, sponges, pads, cartridges, etc. it is usually best to not change them all at once. This gives the beneficial bacteria time to seed the new filter material.

I'm not sure how long that process will take in your filter, but I would think you should give it a week or two.

That said, if you have the manual that came with the filter, it may have specific guidelines for your model filter. If you don't have it, finding online manuals is usually pretty easy.

You should check your water levels if you haven't already. Ammonia, nitrite, ph, etc. If these are okay, and the new filter is running, you have probably averted a crisis. And check the levels again in 2 or 3 days.

Good luck, and hopefully your fish are already breathing in some freshly oxygenated water. Those little critters too, so they can go back into hiding.

[Lauren_laroo]

TYVM for everything i got the new filter pump last night took an hour to get it figued out but i finally got it and it works really good it flows the water out quietly and spreads it out evenly ! i love this new filter! the fishes are doing great! and those lil critters went back into hiding thank god it wasn't anything harmful!
thank you again for your help

[blennydude]

Copapods don't look like worms, they are tiny and round. Maybe bristle worms?

[Lauren_laroo]

Well what ever they were i dont see them anymore so i take it they are suppose to be in there and they went back to hiding after i set the new pump up