strange beings!

Question
hi jaymie, i have a fresh water tank with 2 suckers, 1 neon, 4 black skirt tetras and 1 balloon molly. 2 days ago i noticed hundreds of what seem like eggs. however these things are moving about the tank quite freely and haven't hatched but upon closer inspection the look like a oval clam with time hairs or antennae. they look like they're crawling on the bottom, on the sides on the top of the water in the tank. they're not bothering the fish. i took one out and the "shell" is hard.  
the sucker fish are about 2 weeks new to the tank where the others are about 10 months old.
are these creepy things fish? have i created a new life form? what do i do?

Answer
Dee,
New life form huh? lol sorry i liked that one. Unfortunately it is not something new. These little guys come in when the fish are being over fed and the food is left in the tank. They also invade when the tank is not being properly cleaned. Most of these critters are harmless to the fish, but let on their own will totally take over the tank. I would do a good gravel cleaning to get most of them out of the tank. When you feed the fish, give them only what they can eat in 2 minutes. If any food is left after that time it should be removed. Make sure you are doing weekly water changes and you should be able to get rid of them. If after you do all that and you are still seeing them, let me know and we can try other things.