What's that bug? How to recognize them

[jaidexl]

Water beetle? Heh, yeah, if roaches were beetles and walked on water, that would be a "water beetle" haha. Once it finishes growing them wings, it'll be a butterfly.

[Eden Marel]

Here are some more worm video for you guys to enjoy:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjM9UyBM6QA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0qDWCPssg

[blondeyny]

Originally Posted by Zezmo

Here is another little nasty that is found sometimes in a planted tank.

Freshwater Bristle-worm:


They typically live deep in the substrate, or in the filter. The largest I have seen was nearly 4 inches long, it was munching on some mulm about 2 inches deep in the aquasoil, up against the glass. The smaller ones just look like red worm, and you have to look very close to see the bristles.
I believe they are harmless, since they seem to be a detrivore. However, I have not touched one to see if they sting like some marine varieties. There have certainly been no dead fish with a row of stings up their side.
IMO, this is the nastiest of the nasties you can find while working on your tank.

I found one of these, almost 2" long a couple weeks ago doing a wc/gv. Freaked me out!!! This week I found 3 more of varying sizes. I'm keeping them in a tupperware dish. (they are kind of interesting to watch) But I can't seem to find much info on freshwater bristleworms. Everything seems to mention about them being in marine tanks. How did they arrive in my tank? Should I be worried for the inhabitants of the tank??

[darius3]

i found this Snail Leech (Glossiphonia sp.) in my tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlYE8Zb1xDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od169FBUyv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwAZ39qj8oo
http://picasaweb.google.com/darius.m.../WormAquarium#

cool and creepy!

[Tommo]

That is what i have in my shrimp tank , how do you get rid of them ?

[Eden Marel]

My sis was vacuuming my goldfish tank and sucked up those plant bulbs that I had put in many many many months ago, and they never grew. But she noticed something about them when she vacuumed them up. She calls these worms, "Heartworms" (they aren't really though). Only because to her the bulb at the time looked like a chicken heart and worms were coming out of them! So she put them in a bottle and bought them to me and here are the pics I took of them.

[AoxomoxoA]

What's these bugs?!?

[deleted_user_7]

Aphids...

[iturnrocks]

Originally Posted by iturnrocks

Clam shrimp - Here are some pics of one I caught wild by dip netting flooded fields. They swim kinda like daphnia by propelling themselves with their antennae. They are much larger than Ostracods. They have a very short lifespan, about 2-3 weeks. The one in these images is about 1/2 inch long.

I have learned a lot more about these animals since the original post, and some of my previous information was wrong. The 2-3 week lifespan applies to the clam shrimp Eulimnadia texana. They are smaller, translucent clam shrimp. The species in this photo is Cyzicus setosa, I have observed a lifespan of about 6 months in my aquariums. The females tend to be orange-ish like that photo, and the males tend to be more olive colored. I have taken some much better photos since then, so I figured I would share.
Female with eggs (cysts- white circles just inside the shell on bottom left of image)

Male

another female closeup

mating

I also made a video of clam shrimp mating, not sure if that is allowed here or not. I'll post the link, remove it if its not allowed.

This was made with the video feature on a point and shoot camera, so its definitely not HD, but you can see whats going on for the most part. Sometimes 2 males would hook up with the same female at the same time. There is a lot of thrusting and pushing the females around the tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAcEU1QHurk

whoa, they unmuted my audio track, its a lot better with the music, lol

[kvuyk2]

Thanks for the great information!

How can you tell the difference between a springtail and a water mite?

[redfishsc]

My 10g has THOUSANDS of those seed shrimp.

I've kept aquariums for nearly all my life and never had them until now lol.

I couldn't figure out how these little coquina clams got in my freshwater tank.


They look like little clams scurrying about, had me confused as heck.


Glad to know they are just free cleanup-crew.

[tw33kerloki]

I've got these swimming "worms" in my 12gal setup. They're pale pinkish when smaller (less than 1/2" stretched) and active swimmers; tan or brown and more sluggish when grown (1" stretched).

Kind of weirds me out. Worried they may be potentially hazardous to fish or shrimps. Sorry, I am a terrible photographer.

[defiesexistence]

Judging by your extremely helpful pics, I think it is, in any case. About .5" long. Three branches on the tail fin, though hard to see. This has been a very sticky-worthy thread!

How do I get rid of it? Planning on taking the tank down, bleaching everything (plants, rocks, tank) will this get rid of it? And how did it enter in the first place?

[v369]

great post! glad to see that others have a large intrest in tiny freshwater inverts.the pics you have of the bryophytes and clamp shrimp are incredible, i think i need a better camera ...

[OoglyBoogly]

I didn't see rain identify this one in the first post so I figured I'd give it a try. I believe it is a type of hoverfly larvae aka a rat-tailed maggot. They are also called "filth flies" since they lay their eggs in stagnant water. The adults are interesting b/c they mimic honeybees/bumblebees but you can tell the difference by looking at the eyes. They have giant fly eyes and legs. I took a bunch of pics of them this summer. This is what the pollen eating adult looks like and btw cardinal tetras LOVE them!

Eristalis Intricarius covered in pollen by mikeytitan on Flickr

There is also a different kind of hoverfly since I saw a few posts about aphids. This hoverfly mimics a wasp and it's larvae looks like a caterpillar and stabs aphids. Here are some more pics that I snapped this summer! The adults eat pollen as well and they are excellent fliers with "hover" like control.
Syrphus ribesii
DSC_0057_hoverfly_ by mikeytitan on Flickr

I was lucky enough to catch this hoverfly larvae stabbing it's prey on a collard greens stem.
DSC_0247 by mikeytitan on Flickr