tiny white bugs on aquarium glass

[PufferBabe]

they'er really small but they move really fast..and theres like a ton of them..could this be from the LR?? and could it harm my GSP?

thanks in advance!

[RTR]

There are myriad infusorians and 'pods in the world, especially in the tropical reef environments. During the maturation process in captive systems it is common for some types to temporarily grow to high and easily visible densities. Ordinarily these populations drop back to much smaller numbers as the setup matures.

Tanks, both FW and SW, are highly complex microecologies. It takes them months at least to mature, and commonly that process extends until the lead specimen itself is mature, which takes several years for relatively long-lived fish such as puffers. The final stages are generally not even noticed by the hobbyists, as the explosive overgrowths of one small critter or another are rare after the first few months. Overgrowths are pretty common in the early months, much less so later.

Ordinarily those population explosions are trivial to the health of the tank, provided that the hobbyist does not try to fight them. remember that these are not, repeat NOT parasites. Parasites are found on or in their hosts, not free in the water column or on the glasses or decor. They are only a somewhat out of balance population of some microbe, infusorian, or 'pod which will decline to normal numbers shortly as it exhausts whatever nutrient or smaller prey item is briefly in excess. It is part of normal tank maturation in young tank setups.

HTH