tiny white moving specks in cycling tank

Question
dear Trish,

Hi! I've already asked a question here, and the quality of the advice I got was amazing and I hope I'm not overstaying my welcome here by asking another!

well, I have a 5 gallon tank that is currently undergoing a fishless cycle; there are 2 marimo balls, an anubias nana and a "lucky bamboo" stalk with the leaves outside the water. There's also gravel, a cocohut and two large pieces of driftwood.
- the filter is a corner box filter with an airstone and lumps of porous ceramic and floss as media
- temperature is 76-78 degrees F
- ph is 7.6
- nitrites are 0.3ppm
- nitrates are between 10-20ppm
- ammonia 2.4ppm
-I don't use aquarium salt, but would you reccomend it? I hear mixed reviews of it; I'm also nervous it would stress my fish

The tank is cycling for a single betta, roger, who is currently being kept in a 1 gallon tank (I know it's way too small, but it's only until the cycling is done) and he's the sole occupant of the tank but I am having thoughts of a small snail.

so finally, the issue is that I noticed around two days ago that there were miniscule white moving specks on the tank's walls and on the driftwood and cocohut. they're about the size of a period (.) and they're oval shaped with a pointed protuberance in the back. they swim with jerky motions but mostly walk on the glass, there aren't millions of them or anything, but I'm worried they might cause harm to roger once I move him back into his tank. Do you have any idea what they might be?
they look a lot like the copepods in this photo
http://bp3.blogger.com/_-I2R3HdTIkY/RddoMfs1-zI/AAAAAAAAAGw/rx6V_2MaqlI/s1600-h/...

but I'm still not sure, because they're mostly associated with salt water aquariums aren't they?

well, I'm really just hoping these critters aren't dangerous for my fish and if you can offer any advice it would be most appreciated! thanks so much for taking the time to read this!

emilie

Answer
Hi Emilie.  It sounds like you have done a wonderful job preparing your tank, so I'm not quite sure how to tell you this.....but, with Bettas, it is not really necessary to cycle a tank, especially a 5 gallon tank.  I would not even stress over whatever critter is in there, I would empty the tank, clean it out with hot water with a tiny bit of bleach (yes, you CAN use a little bleach despite what you may hear...anyone who says you cannot is not educated on it). The trick when you use bleach is to just use a little bit, but the MOST important thing to do is to RINSE RINSE RINSE until you can no longer smell the bleach.  After you do that, fill the tank back up while using a water conditioner, and allow that to sit for 20 minutes or so, then rinse rinse rinse again. Dry the tank with paper towels. This will kill anything that may be living in the tank and wanting to develop again.

Then fill the tank with tap water and water conditioner and allow it to sit to room temperature.  If you are using a filter, just run the filter in it, but a filter is not really necessary with these fish, so long as you clean their tank regularly.  If it gets cold where you are, you will want a little heater to keep the water in their comfort range, which sound to me like you are aware of.

That's all that is necessary with these fish.  I'm sorry that you have gone through such hard work to find out that you didn't have to do it.

Please let me know if you need any help with this.

Good luck.