Are mites a problem in betta tanks?

[silverbreeze]

Hi all, hope I'm posting in the right spot. I've got a Betta setup with private sections connected by bridging, and I recently encountered a weird issue. When I went to clean the tank day before yesterday, I was shocked to see thousands of tiny bugs swimming everywhere. No new additions to the tank, and they didn't seem to be bothering the fish. Still, I didn't like the look of it, so I tried to get rid of them. Hot water didn't do the trick, so I had to break out the heavy artillery - bleach. It took a lot of bleach and about 10 minutes to finally kill them off. The worst part is they also infested my 2.5g hospital tanks. I siphoned them down to almost nothing, then added tap water with chlorine, hoping that'll finish them off. Has anyone else dealt with these tiny critters?

[CasCat]

Got any pics of these tiny critters? Would be helpful to see 'em up close. Cyclops or similar is a possibility, I've heard of those being pretty resilient. Water mites are another option - I've heard they're a real pain to get rid of, lol.

[littleking]

Another possibility that comes to mind is planeria. It'd be super helpful if you could post some photos, like CasCat suggested, that way we can get a better look at these tiny critters. Also, what color are they - that might give us a clue, you didn't mention that in your original post.

[kingrise]

I'm still trying to figure out what those tiny bugs were, and I appreciate the suggestions so far. I didn't take any photos at the time, but I'll make sure to get some if I see them again. Planeria and cyclops are both possibilities, I suppose - I just wish I'd taken a closer look before I tried to get rid of them. The colour might have been helpful to know, but they were just tiny and swarming everywhere. I'm just glad I was able to get rid of them, even if it did take a lot of bleach.

[CasCat]

Did yours look anything like the ones in the pic I posted?

[silverbreeze]

No, they weren't like that at all - completely round, I mean. My boyfriend found a bigger one on top of the Betta tank, killed it. Said it was a little round bug too. They moved super fast in the water, zipping around everywhere. When I added the bleach, they went crazy, swimming in rapid circles.

[CasCat]

Another possibility to consider, seed shrimp?

[silverbreeze]

They're still zipping around in my hospital tanks. My pLione camera's having a tough time focusing on them, but I gave it a shot. I've added arrows to the slightly bigger ones, and circled the really tiny ones.

[littleking]

Definitely not planeria, given the description. Those tiny bugs do seem like some kind of mite or possibly even cyclops. The photos aren't very clear, but I know how tough it can be to capture tiny creatures on camera. Do your fish seem to be eating them or getting irritated by their presence?

[silverbreeze]

My Betta didn't seem to care about them at all. I didn't see any on the fish themselves, which was weird. The ones in the Betta tank were everywhere, though - tons of them. They even covered my moss balls, it was crazy.