The Bugs Are Back. =(

[Manix]

Last night I saw my fish doing something odd.
He was pressing his lips against the glass and making a fishy face!
I take a closer look and find that he's trying his very best to eat the tiny, barely visable bugs crawling all over the glass. I've had these little bugs before. When they've grown big enough to see, they resemble a copepod. I've never found a way to kill them, nor have I found how they're getting in the aquarium. I've always had to clean out the aquarium and start over becuase whenever they show up, trouble quickly follows. That's the LAST thing I want do this time.
Unfortunatly, they have brought company with them! I now have a second type of bug crawling on the glass. This one I can't get a good look at no matter what I do (Microscope is old and hard to focus). From the few glimses I've cought of it under glass, it looks like a worm with a thread on the end of its tail.

What are these things! How do I kill them!!!!! Will they hurt my fish?

On another subject. Does anyone know where I can get a decent electric microscope without going broke?

Thanks!

[TKOS]

If I over feed my betta sometimes I get little white worms crawling on the glass and he loves to eat them, But they quickly go away if I cut back on the amount of food I give. Probably if you do a gravel vacuum and a few days without feeding then the little bugs will go away.

Most microscopes will run you over 1000$.

[kveeti]

The bugs are not your problem but they are a manifestation of other problems. If "trouble always follows" then you have to find out why these bugs are getting out of hand. They will always be present and aren't harmful in their regular small numbers (that you don't even know they're there). Starting over is like the old saying "throwing out the baby with the bath water." First try feeding less and cleaning more to get them under control.

As far as the microscope, it is not the best out there, of course, top magnification is only 200x but it is adequate for most things...

review: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec99/rbqx3.html
product page:
http://playdigitalblue.com/products/qx3/info/

You can buy them at Toys-backwards R-Us, mine cost me $90 Canadian. The plus is it hooks up to the computer. I love it!

[biggisteve]

i see the bugs a lot on one of my tanks i only ee them when the water level gets a li'l bit low and there is glass to crawl on. i've never had a problem with them however. none of those problems that follow.

[btowntaz]

Bleach usually kills them all. Just add a gallon or so and you won't see anymore bugs! Or fish! hehe