Very tiny black bug infestation in aquarium.

[Minoka]

Hi, I recently noticed very small black bugs in my aquarium. Looked all over the net, but can't find any info on them. They seem to be eating my plants as well. They are smaller than the grains of sand in my aquarium, so it's very difficult to get a good picture. If anyone knows what they are and if they are harmful or not. Or if anyone has the same bugs, please post here with any info would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[northernpangio]

Water mites. I had them in my betta tank and I could never find anything that would kill them.

 

[Minoka]

Water mites. I had them in my betta tank and I could never find anything that would kill them.

Thanks for the reply,
Just searched up water mites and they do look like mites. Not sure what kind of water mites they are though. The ones in my aquarium are very slow moving. You would have to stay there and stare at it for a while to see it move.
I also tired several different meds on it by placing a few in different containers with different meds and nothing killed them.

 

[northernpangio]

Thanks for the reply,
Just searched up water mites and they do look like mites. Not sure what kind of water mites they are though. The ones in my aquarium are very slow moving. You would have to stay there and stare at it for a while to see it move.
I also tired several different meds on it by placing a few in different containers with different meds and nothing killed them.

Yes, the ones I had you could never see move but they were in different spots if you left for a while and looked at the tank again. I have a feeling the only way to get rid of them would be to start the tank over, unless there's something out there that I don't know of that would kill them.

 

[Minoka]

Yes, the ones I had you could never see move but they were in different spots if you left for a while and looked at the tank again. I have a feeling the only way to get rid of them would be to start the tank over, unless there's something out there that I don't know of that would kill them.

Sounds like we have the same mites. Did you end up just leaving them in your tank? And did they do any damage to your plants? Thinking of just leaving them in if they don't do any harm. It would be a bummer to have to start over. They have invaded 3 of my tanks now and I have a good colony of shrimps in each tank. Starting over would probably cause lots of shrimps to die off.

 

[northernpangio]

Sounds like we have the same mites. Did you end up just leaving them in your tank? And did they do any damage to your plants? Thinking of just leaving them in if they don't do any harm. It would be a bummer to have to start over. They have invaded 3 of my tanks now and I have a good colony of shrimps in each tank. Starting over would probably cause lots of shrimps to die off.

I took the tank down and sold it. I only ever saw the mites eating detritus, dead plants and slime from the silicone. I won't lie; I hated putting my hands in the tank knowing there was mites in there.

 

[Minoka]

I took the tank down and sold it. I only ever saw the mites eating detritus, dead plants and slime from the silicone. I won't lie; I hated putting my hands in the tank knowing there was mites in there.

Oh that's good to know they only ate dead plant matter. But doesn't sound promising on getting rid of them..

Thanks for sharing your experience with them though. I will keep trying to see if I find anything that will kill them besides purging the whole tank and starting over.

 

[northernpangio]

Oh that's good to know they only ate dead plant matter. But doesn't sound promising on getting rid of them..

Thanks for sharing your experience with them though. I will keep trying to see if I find anything that will kill them besides purging the whole tank and starting over.

Oddly enough across a few different forums i've been seeing people posting about the same mites recently. I wonder where they're coming from.

Have you gotten plants from anywhere recently?

 

[Minoka]

Oddly enough across a few different forums i've been seeing people posting about the same mites recently. I wonder where they're coming from.

Have you gotten plants from anywhere recently?

I did actually. But I don't think it was from the plants. I think it was from the mystery snails I picked up from a seller about 3 weeks ago. It only took about a week for the mites to infest the tank. You wouldn't happen to have a link to the other posts on the mites would you? I'm going to follow the posts and hopefully someone figures out a way to exterminate them.

 

[northernpangio]

I did actually. But I don't think it was from the plants. I think it was from the mystery snails I picked up from a seller about 3 weeks ago. It only took about a week for the mites to infest the tank. You wouldn't happen to have a link to the other posts on the mites would you? I'm going to follow the posts and hopefully someone figures out a way to exterminate them.

Where did you buy the plants? Mine came from plants that I bought. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to mention this forum but i've seen a lot of posts on Fishlore about these mites.

 

[Minoka]

Where did you buy the plants? Mine came from plants that I bought. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to mention this forum but i've seen a lot of posts on Fishlore about these mites.

I just went on that page and you're right. There are a few ppl with the same exact mites. All black or dark brown and hardly moves.
Everyone's having the same issue with nothing that really kills them but possibly copper. Unfortunately copper will kill all my snails and shrimps as well.
I will test copper on them anyways to see if copper really does kill them.

 

[King Fisher]

I don't know what kills them but they will eat your shrimp larvae.

 

[Minoka]

I don't know what kills them but they will eat your shrimp larvae.

OK.. That's not good. I'm guessing this has happened to you?

 

[King Fisher]

Not personally because I don't keep shrimp but I've heard stories.

 

[Silvermist80]

I think i have these tiny little bugs, except I think mine had babies... i have thousands of them in my Betta setup. So far they do not succumb to steaming hot water, but they do eventually to bleach. I had to do a pretty strong Bleach concentration though. Tough little things! I suspect mine came from some bioballs I got off of Wish.com that came from China... anyone else get something like that before getting them?