What are these things in my tank?

[houdini56]

 

Okay, I've read the few discussions I could find in a general search for "bugs" and learned about copepods and such, but I don't think that is what I've got.

 

These look like little amoeba, about the size of the head of a pin to maybe twice that size, and they roam on the glass walls.  Started out with a few here or there, but this last week they have multiplied into dozens.  They really "bug" me!

 

The macro photo shows one right next to my fingertip. With the naked eye it just looks like a tiny white blob.

 

It is a planted tank with shrimp and a couple of nerite snails (they don't reproduce).  I did find a couple tiny snails after I added some frogbit a few weeks ago but these little amoeba were there before the frogbit.

 

I can grasp them with tweezers and they have a little crunch when squished.  

 

I was trying to just live with them when it was a few here and there, but now they are really multiplying and I want to get rid of them if I can.  But it's hard to know how to deal with them when I don't have a clue what they are!     Help would be appreciated.

 

 

[sarah]

Limpets.

Hate them. I've recently found some in 2 of my tanks. They are harmless and eat algae, but they are so annoying to have on the front glass.

[josu2]

Ditto on the limpets. They are basically snails that don't have whorls on the shell. Or, another way to think of it, clams with only one half of the shell.