what are these tiny bugs? [pic and vid]

[GlitcH]

OK...I've got a 20L set up to breed Red Cherry Shrimp and I used filter from my 92G to seed the 20L.
I don't see these in the 92G but they have nearly taken over the 20.

Anyone know what they are and if they are anything I should worry about?

Here is the best pic I can get......cuz they are so damn small.

And here is a video I shot with my dinky camera.......sorry the quality is crappy but at least it shows how infested I am with them.

10mb avi

 

[joannde]

are you sure they're bugs ? they sort of look like pond snails in the photo.

 

[GlitcH]

check out the vid..........they swim.

 

[CaysE]

Wow infestation! They look like crustaceans of some kind, like copepods you'd see in a SW tank. Are you over-feeding the tank? These kinds of bugs usually only show up if there's something to eat that the other tank inhabitants aren't. Is there a smell associated with them?

They probably aren't anything to worry about. Try a real good gravel cleaning to pick up any left over food and do a 50% water change.

 

[joannde]

Sorry - couldn't get the vid to load.

 

[GlitcH]

I just had done a 50% PWC before the vid was taken.

That's when they started swiming around so much and I realized there was sooooo many.

I gotta be real careful when vacuming cuz I've already got some baby shrimp boppin around that aren't much bigger than the "bugs".

I am feeding a bit more than I should cuz I am also tryin to get some pond snails multiplying.
But the snails eat everything up in no time.

I had copepods in the 92G.....these don't look quite the same.....but its hard to tell.

 

[Mosaic]

There are FW copepods too. That would be my guess. What I read says they stay near the bottom during the day and are up at the surface at night. Do yours do this?

Fish like to eat them, but I guess you only have the inverts in there. Maybe you could move a few fish in there temporarily and I bet they'll wipe out a lot of them for you.

edit - there are apparently lots of different kinds. Maybe these are a different species. Or maybe they're scuds? From the pic it looks like they have some sort of little flagellum that they swim with, which really sounds like copepods.

 

[Speakerman]

Holy geeze....thats a lot of bugs...

No help there though...

 

[Purrbox]

Possibly Freshwater Rotifers. Description certainly fits.

 

[GlitcH]

Could be purrbox.......looks sorta like it.

Someone else had mentioned Ostracods

Looks more like these though....I think.

Anyone know anything about them?

 

[Mosaic]

I totally meant to say ostracods. Got 'em mixed up. I had those for a little while and the fish loved them. I never really had them in such a huge quantity, though, so I never saw them buzzing around like that.
It doesn't really look like a rotifer, cause the image on that page doesn't have that little tail. But I have not had those personally, so I can't say.

 

[odessadude]

Wow, that video looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie! If it were my tank, I believe I would save the shrimp and completely start over.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Purbox that it may be Rotifers. If they are, they are actually excellent food for your new shrimp and should not create any damage besides an eyesore.

It is very hard to tell exactly what they are. You would probably need to put one under a microscope and then research their structure to narrow it down.

 

[odessadude]

They could be excellent food, but did you watch the video. My lap top defaulted to Windows Media Player. It loaded in 10 seconds.

By the way Glitch, what type of a camera did you use? It was actually a pretty good video.

 

[GlitcH]

Food for the shrimp huh..........well I haven't seen them eat anything but shrimp pellets and algae and I watch them closely.

It would be nice if they did munch on them though.
Maybe they are just lazy shrimps.

I will have to try getting some better pics soon.

Thanks everyone......for the help.

My camera is a finepix e510. It's a still camera with a short vid clip option. As you can see in the vid, once I start recording, the camera will no longer focus.

 

[JeffreyL]

bugs

I thought daphnia at first, but they may be too big. But sure looks like an invertebrate with a single swimming appendage. Sounds like fish food to me too!!! In the video it looked like one shrimp might have been chasing. Possibly the little critters are already dinner?? Either way, they look cool. let us know if you find out any more on them.

 

[joannde]

I thought I saw one being chased by a shrimp also but thought maybe it was just the perspective

 

[GlitcH]

I'm convinced they are Ostracods.
I've learned that Ostracods have a very hard shell.
So I picked up one and it feels hard like a grain of sand.

So......unless someone comes up with proof to the contrary....I'll agree that they are Ostracods.

Also, the hard shell makes them "not so tasty" to the shrimp, so right now they own the tank.
I may seed my other tanks with them as cory food.......or I may drop an endler in the shrimp tank.

 

[rkilling1]

i don't know what those are, but i sure would like to have that setup in my fry tank. i'm sure they would love em.

 

[Lepomis]

Very well could be some sort of ostracods. The ones I have are much smaller (mine are in the cherry shrimp tanks also).