things in my fish tank

Question
i just got some freshwater clams to put in my tank to help filter the water. about a day later i noticed that there were tiny mite-like things swimming in the water. i think they came off the clams. they are very small and white, they are not ick, they swim. do you know what they are and how can i kill them without hurting anything else in the tank. please help, and thank you

Answer
Hi Josh
I'm guessing you got the clams from the "wild" so to say?  I thought about doing that awhile back for food for my puffer fish.  I'd lived in Florida and figured the beach was close by, but I'd read that it's not necessarily a good idea.  Clams are pretty much natural filters.  If it's a polluted area, they most likely will have a lot of toxins in them.

It's very possible the little creatures you now have are from the clams.  It's kinda hard to say exactly what you have, there's so many possibilities, from worms, copepods, insects, etc.  I'm posting a link at the bottom here, it has some rough drawings of different micro buggy things that can be found in ponds and aquariums.  I know the usual most common ones are planaria, which is white and almost slug/snail like.  Usually you'll see them crawling on the glass.  The other is a nematode.  They look like little squiggly worms swimming around.  Usually you don't notice them till you do a water change and stir up the gravel/substrate.  

The first link, try looking at the bottom one, insect stages.  I know the drawings aren't the greatest to compare a micro sized bug....

 http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/x_index.html

This second link doesn't have photos, but gives a description of some common bugs in tanks/ponds:

http://www.petfish.net/articles/Aquarium_Basics/bug-worm.php

You'll probably have to copy/paste to your browser.  

For treatment, it depends on what it is.  A lot of times a little salt added to the water will kill them.  But, I can't say for sure if the clams could handle salt, I'm not that familiar with freshwater clams.  It'll also depend on what else is in the tank fish wise.  The best thing I can advise, without knowing what it is, is to do frequent water changes.  Being sure to thoroughly vac the gravel/substrate good.  Also avoid overfeeding the fish, feed only what they'll eat in 5 minutes, and scoop out the remaining food.  Some of those, nematodes and planaria in particular, are usually brought out by overfeeding.

Well, I hope that helps!  If you have any more questions, please ask away!!
Good luck!

Christy