Need help identifying small creatures
- Thread starter NStalgia
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
I can't tell for sure but if you had seed shrimp before, these are probably another type of ostracod which happens when the tank maintenance is lacking. You can spot remove them with a siphon hose but you probably will not get total eradication without better maintenance. Get a piece of airline tubing and a piece of rigid tubing that fits the airline to siphon out these without having to siphon out lots of the water. 
How'd they get there tho cause I've had this tank setup for a while now and I put the seed shrimp there myself cause I thought they'd be good for cleaning. I was worried cause I thought they might be larvae of some bug cause I have the tanks near the terrace door and I get a couple bugs sometimes cause there's a lot of plants and trees outside. Wonder if my fish will eat them cause I've tried squishing them and they're not as hard as seed shrimp.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
"
When in doubt, suck them out."
Yes, it could be ( and probably is )from an outside bug. The best way to keep them under control is by not letting them get out of control. I use a section of rigid tubing on airline hose to suck out things like leftover food in fry tanks, detritus, individual fry and it's turned into the best tool in my tool kit. You point the rigid tubing at what you want gone and suck the other end. ( Use a good length of the airline tubing so you don't drink the water ) Do it whenever you see one of the little buggers. You will probably not get all of them for a while but keeping their population under control is a major step forward. One of the issues for not waiting for the fish to deal with them is that there are viruses and parasites that use things like snails and fish and bugs as intermediate hosts until a larger animal eats those hosts then the parasites continue their life cycle. No sense risking your fish to avoid doing some manual sucking.
Turkey baster for sucking them out if it's possible with the size tank.
