White, Fast Moving Bugs on top of Water

Hi everyone, the other day I noticed a BUNCH of little white FAST moving insects moving across the top of the water. They seem to be only visible if you look down onto your water. I tried looking from the bottom up but I didn't see anything. At first, I thought they were little air/microbubbles floating around. However, at a closer glance, I noticed there were in fact insects. If you have a moonlight, they swarm around the light at night. That's how I came to notice them. I tried SCOOPING them out with a net, but it seems as though they just keep reproducing. Does anyone know what these little guys are? Are they good/bad for the tank? :-/

 

could be copepods

 

I have these too! I can't offer any advise as to what they are, and I only recently noticed them. In the 4 years I have had this tank, this is the first time they seem to have shown up. So far I don't think they have done any harm. I tried to catch some too, but when I netted one, it was just as fast on the net as on the water. And its the same with me, that I can only see them when looking down into the water, and only at night when one of the lights has gone off. I'm hoping for an explanation here as well......they are definitely not copepods! They look like white spiders that move FAST! Lightning quick!

 

Hey Brandon, I noticed this morning that a lot of the "spiders" were dead and floating on top of the water!!! but I'm sure they will just reproduce and start up again! What ARE THESE THINGS!!

 

might be these little guys!

http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/GDD/BP/pictures/pardalisca.jpg

amphipods!

 

No, it's definitely not those pods. Those are IN the water, but these "spiders" I am talking about are ON TOP of the water and don't look like pods, but rather spiders.