Anyone have any idea what this thing is
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Female harpacticoid copepod! Those two little sack things are egg cases. Mostly they eat detritus and algae.
Got some videos, probably not for the squeamish but I am somewhat disturbed by what I am seeing and am wondering if you guys know what these things are.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InsecureLegalDutchsmoushond-mobile.mp4
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InsecureLegalDutchsmoushond-mobile.mp4
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They look like insect larvae. The last one looked like mosquito larvae, the first 2 looked like nymphs maybe I'm not so sure.
Got it, so getting rid of my bin full of floating plants. What should I do about the these things in the tank though? I plan on getting shrimp and celestial pearl danios. Don't want whatever these things are to be a danger to them, if they will be?
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Mosquito larvae are eaten by most fish (bloodworms are the first larval stages of mosquito I believe) it's the nymphs you have to watch out for. I think mosquito rings might work but I'm not 100%. You can usually get them at agriculture stores and many hardware stores. I usually get any number of larvae in my outdoor summer water features and have had hit or miss success with said rings. They haven't harmed my fish, tadpoles or frogs any.
Going to scrub the glass some and shake the plants before doing a 50% water change. Going to add in water about 5-7(or more) degrees cooler than what is in the tank currently. I heard that would kill nymphs if that is what those things are. However I do believe one of them to be some sort of snail as it had a shell it was reaching out of. I don't know if the one in the second video was a snail though as I could not see it's backside. Really hoping these aren't nymphs. Not sure what I would do if this water change doesn't work.
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I think I know what you're talking about with the snail like one, it reminds me if these weird wormlike ones that collect debris on what appears to be their butt... I've watched them and they don't seem to harm anything. Nymphs will get pretty big and can be removed manually when you spot them. Taking the plants out of the water and picking through them should get a good majority of critters out. It's a pain and tedious but it's not impossible. Good luck!!
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Just popping in to say that bloodworms are NOT the first larval stages of mosquitoes. Bloodworms are a different aquatic larvae (some form of midge) altogether.
Can't help with ID of the rest of the things you've got. Only thing I can think of s the "weird wormlike ones that collect debris on what appears to be their butt", which, caddisfly larvae?
So I just had 2 of these things fly out of my tank. Never really expected to face this sort of problem with an aquarium, but yeah it is what it is I guess. Any idea what these things are, if they are a danger to future fish/shrimp and what I can do to rid my tank of them?
![1028733]()
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Midge fly maybe? Have you fed live bloodworms at all?
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Found out why I thought bloodworms were mosquito larva- midge flies are also known as blind mosquitoes. I must've saw that somewhere before and didn't separate it. It would make sense to be a midge fly of some sort considering you had what looked like a live bloodworm in the tank. Did you use a dirt bottom for your tank by any chance?
This is what I used for my substrate. Though these things only started appearing after I removed the rest of the duckweed. I originally had a lot more but removed most of it into a bin with some water and nothing else. Once I went to remove the rest I'm guessing using the net back and forth transferred whatever was waiting in that bin over the days it had just been sitting there into the tank.. Since then the glass has been covered with what look like tiny egg sacks stringed together and some other weird critters. I read somewhere that doing a large water change with cold(er) water would kill off the intruders, it seems to have taken out the bigger pests. That or they've gone into hiding, however with having things literally flying out of my tank today it clearly didn't clear out everything.
![1028743]()
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Yea, most likely from sitting in the bin. I wish I had better answers but with most insect larvae there's fish that will gladly devour them. That might be your best bet on getting rid of these pests.
Fair enough, as long as I am not endangering the fish's lives (most likely guppies) then I am okay with letting them have at it. Just got 2 more pictures. Have some weird growth on some of my plants. Looking like long dark strings. They don't move so I don't think their worms of any kind. Any ideas? Oh and here's a pic of one of whatever these flying bugs are:
![1028745]()
![1028746]()
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Looks like a midge fly, honestly. Not sure on those black things.
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