help me identify these bugs

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beaudoiin

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Messages
3
i have an 80 gal aquarium with various fish and snails. I noticed on my mystery snail today when she was laying eggs that there were some bugs crawling on her.

i never noticed these bugs before.

she was above the water when I seen dozens crawling on her and I also seen these bugs crawling on my duckweed and the side of the tank. they jumped when I poked them. (eeeak) I didn't notice any of them under the water but I haven't had time to check (its late).

here is a link of a youtube video of the bugs in a some what close up
https://youtu.be/EaibGLSMTqk

they didn't quite look like mites or springtails. not sure what they are. they look like they have full bodies and antennas, kinda like a tick meets an ant. except they are too small for me to be certain.

can any one help identify these?

(ive never been so itchy since I have now seen these bugs)
 
Video is a little blurry so I can’t really see much. Water mites, maybe?

Are there any fish in the tank? most of the time little crustaceans and critters are fish snacks and don’t become a problem unless it’s an invert tank where nothing hunts them.
 
yea sorry my iphone is not the best as a camera.
i have
4 danio
1 bushy nose albino pleco (small)
2 molly
1 rainbow tail shark (on the small side)
2 blue power gourami
3 tetra
5 khuli loaches
1 zebra loach
2 female swordtails (I believe)
5-10 ghost shrimp
some various small snails (really small)
golden mystery snail who just laid 3 egg sacks
japanese snail

also i was looking at water mites online and they appear to be a white color, but these are brownish black. It is hard to see with the naked eye or camera..
 
The pictures I’ve seen of water mites are dark brown to brownish red. Kinda look like tiny ticks. There’s probably lots of different kinds. That’s a lot of fish; you’d think most of these things would eat little critters readily.

So they were only at the surface of the water? When you say the side of the tank do you mean outside the tank (you mentioned not seeing any under the water.) if that’s the case it could be some kind of terrestrial bug who has found a source of water in your tank but don’t actually swim. (I once had ants build a nest in the filter of an unused quarantine tank that was running with one of those bio wheel filters. That was... fairly horrifying when I discovered it.......)

I don’t know what they are for sure but I’d try to manually remove as many as possible and dump in a bucket of bleach or something. If they’re only on the surface / outside I’d investigate the tank area thoroughly for something nesting.
 
they were only on the inside above the water. Ill take some time to examine them, and seen if they are under water too. I do have some plants hanging right above, perhaps they could come from the soil of the potted plants. I will inspect those soils too..

ive decided to feed my fish less for a few days, hopefully that will be incentive enough
 
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