[JohnnyJ]

I recently had an outbreak of these little white creatures. They don't seem to be doing any harm, however, I would like to get rid of them. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Zoidburg]

Think they are amphipods (aka scuds) and are rather harmless, in small numbers, from my understanding. Don't have any in any of my tanks, but saw some at Aqua Forest, in their tanks.

From what I'm reading, it seems the best way to get rid of them is to either get fish that will eat them (which would also be harmful to your shrimp), or put your shrimp in a quarantine tank and completely dry out the tank and/or sterilize it.... which may be difficult if they burrow into the substrate.

 

[_alex_]

I don't think they will harm anything. They are scavengers in saltwater tanks and just eat left over food


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zoidburg]

Digging through information, apparently they will eat baby shrimp and a large population can take down adult shrimp.


As long as the population remains small, they may be fine.

 

[Yukiharu]

You could try trapping them.

 

[sfshrimp]

how

How did it get in your tank you think?

I recently had an outbreak of these little white creatures. They don't seem to be doing any harm, however, I would like to get rid of them. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[garfieldnfish]

Trap them and remove them. I had them in tanks with shrimp and they will out compete the shrimp over food. You seem to have a large population if your picture is representative of the entire tank. I would try to get rid of as many as you can. I use a small plastic container with a screw on lid. Cut out the inside of the lid. Cut a piece of craft canvas (Walmart in the arts and crafts section about 50 cent a sheet) to fit the lid, place the craft canvas on the container and screw the lid back on. I put a rock inside to make the container sink along with some bait (veggies or algae wafer as scuds love those) and place the plastic container in the tank. Check daily for scuds. Be careful to remove any small shrimp that may also have gone inside the trap. I use a plastic dropper to remove the scuds from the trap. I had to do this for several weeks in one of my shrimp tanks until I finally have gotten all of them but it is possible to do. I still have them in 2 of my tanks with CPDs but since the fish love to eat them they are a great constant live food source, so I don't mind having them. However, they multiply so quickly (1 female = 50 baby scuds each month) that my CPDs can't keep up and I still trap them daily in those tanks and sell them on AB. I keep the caught scuds, aka gammarus shrimp, in a small container with some java moss until I have enough for an auction. They do well without air or filter and I feed them 2 to 3 times a week with some veggie matter. I use the same trap covered with java moss to collect CPD eggs that fall right through the moss and the craft canvas into the trap.

 

[JohnnyJ]

I do have quite a large population of them right now. I am going to try to trap them. I appreciate all the info from everyone!!!

Bump:

How did it get in your tank you think?

Probably hitchhiked in on a plant. I'm usually pretty careful about that too.

 

[Raymond S.]

I have a large population in one tank and they seem(who/what else can it be?)to be
eating my plants.
I put them in there for food for my Elassoma which requires "Live Food".
I actually just came back from Petsmart where I bought a Dwarf G. to try to naturally
reduce the population. Didn't want anything seriously aggressive like an Oscar.
I will let you know if I see the Dwarf G. eating any of them in the next couple of days.
I only had one Elassoma for the last few months. I added another one a week ago.
Not enough time to see if that will be enough so I added the Dwarf G.
If the Dwarf G. helps this out, then I should be able to remove it(who knows,I may leave it) so it doesn't kill all the scuds because they are the food for the Elassomas.