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name that bug
Hello RAFP,
Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma, mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population explosion... How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4... bad move... SL Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. |
On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 23:44:47 -0400, "asta"
wrote: Hello RAFP, Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma, mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population explosion... How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4... bad move... SL Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. Gammarus, I bet.How to get rid of them without breaking down the whole tank? I don't know. some fish are supposed to eat them. -- - Charles - -does not play well with others |
asta wrote:
Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. They may well be copepods, even so. The sal****er varieties get a lot more web sites (marine researchers are weird folk, eh?), but there are freshwater varieties as well. There almost no direct action you can take to get rid of them. You don't want to dump chemicals in on healthy fish, and a full tank breakdown is a nightmare. I had a really bad infestation of these in a water-pot. I don't know what the real name of the setup woudl be - it's a lidded one-gallon container with a few inches of potting soil, a layer of gravel, and the rest water. In it is growing, slowly, a Jade Sword. The water at one point was just loaded with little critters that I assume are copepods. I put a couple of ghost shrimp in there for awhile, and they seemed to reduce the population of the bugs quite a lot. And even if that doesn't work, ghost shrimp are pretty cool critters themselves :) -- Eric Schreiber www.ericschreiber.com |
On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 23:44:47 -0400, asta wrote:
Hello RAFP, Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma, mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population explosion... How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4... bad move... SL Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. What size of fish do you have your tank? Are any of your fish trying to eat them? A small creature such as you describe should be a delicacy for a fish like a guppy. Aidan Grey |
I noticed a couple of these same critters about 1 1/2 months ago. Since
then I have finished stocking my planted tank with Tiger barbs, Cherry Barbs, and Gold Barbs. No more bugs.... -- Craig Brye University of Phoenix Online "asta" wrote in message ... Hello RAFP, Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma, mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population explosion... How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4... bad move... SL Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. |
Rosy barbs and ghost shrimp sound like desirable
citizens... Thanks for the input. SL "asta" wrote in message ... Hello RAFP, Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma, mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population explosion... How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4... bad move... SL Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body. Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that they were "copepods", but when I search on this term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour. |
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