Fish lice - any experience?

I'm really stressed. I think either Gilbert the puffer has lice or my tank has been invaded by some strange underwater thing

I can't find any decent pictures of what I have seen, so looking for help really in diagnosis!

I first noticed these little black specks zooming round the tank and sitting on the glass and plants, and THEN I noticed even smaller things that looked almost like fry - white and teeensy with a little pointy tail

I took a closer look at Gilbert and noticed a couple of crawly things on his body so i'm assuming body lice - esp as he had a cloudy eye last week, and I read that because they burrow past the slime coat, the fish is left susceptible to bacterial infections. I thought he'd just bumped his eye on the wood! Poor Gillyboy

What is the best treatment if it is lice? and is it safe for puffers???

I had a fancy once that got fish lice, one handed typin guinea pig having a cuddle! It was horrid, google it can get medication and they fall off fish and then die. not sure about puffers though..sure you can get rid of it...xx

interpet no. 12 is what I used. Just been reading the bottle though and it says it is a very powerful meds and only use if sure of diagnosis. I think i used a really weak solution when I had to do it.

Thanks hun shall have a looky

what about that treatment from jungle you sent me, would that work?

I don't think I can use it on puffers

But in good news!!! I totally over-reacted and after looking at pics of water "hitchhikers" on the net, it seems that what I saw where cyclops and some other little beasty that feed on detritus and algae blooms (which would make sense, as I missed a blob of frozen shrimp in my vaccuming, which would make a nice feast for these critters.

Now i've cleaned up and wiped out the algae, the things have disappeared, nothing on Gillyboy either!

phew that is lucky cos fish lice are disgusting!

It came to my attention that fish lice must be bigger than what I was seeing as I was told to try and get them off with tweezers (like i'm gonna try and do that with an angry puffer, lmao), but these things were TINY! I had to keep refocussing my eyes to see the white fry-like ones because they kept disappearing from my sight LOL