Parasitic Copepods?

[XtrmCHoPZ]

Hi, sorry if this is a question somebody has asked before....In both of my tanks ( 125g, 135g ) I have these very small whitish "bugs" crawling on the glass, rocks, fish. etc. I am almost positive that it is not ich or oodinium because they can actually be seen moving, and it has been over a month now. I figured if it was ich it would have become very bad by now.
After talking to a couple of LFS's and looking online I think they may be copepods of some sort but am not sure. I know there are parasitic copes but do not know how to identify them. The ones in my tanks move quite a bit, are white in color, have one end that is fatter than the other and have a pair tiny antenna. Some are smaller than others and mostly can be seen on the glass and on my puffers!
That is the main problem......I see them on my golden and panda puffers. I think becuase they rest on the bottom at night and because they are scaleless. I have not seen any of these "bugs" on my triggers, angels or clownfish though.
Please help. My puffers need me!
Xtrmchopz

 

[iCam]

Perhaps you are seeing parasitic isopods? Here is an example of one type of parasitic isopod:

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

I thought isopods were bigger. These guys are very, very small.

 

[Paintbug]

they all start small. there is several species of copepods that i know of that get huge. several inches long. but none of which have i herd of being parasitic. but again im not a biologist i just read alot

i agree that they are isopods. Cirolanid Isopods to be exact. do a google on how to remove them and be EXTRA careful. they will atack you as well.

 

[RGBMatt]

Parasitic copepods do exist, but they're very different from the typical crawling and swimming varieties. They're highly specialized with reduced body parts and have enlarged stringy gonads that hang outside the fish's body. Commercial fisherman see these a lot.

The bugs on your glass are probably some sort of crustacean, but nothing you'd need to worry about.