[albinooscar]

Can anybody tell me what these bugs are, if they're harmful to shrimp and how to get rid of them if they are?

 

[Mark Fisher]

Looks like seed shrimp. They are harmless to shrimp, but this article is helpful: Seed shrimp

 

[albinooscar]

Looks like seed shrimp. They are harmless to shrimp, but this article is helpful: Seed shrimp

Thanks for the link. Very informative.

 

[somewhatshocked]

I wouldn't say that article is a great resource because that individual considers them pests. Search this forum you've been a part of since 2005 for terms like "seed shrimp" and "ostracod" and you'll find tons of information.

The long and short of it? They're a sign your shrimp tank is healthy.

How long has the tank been set up? Have you recently (in the last 5-6 months?) added new plants to the tank? Or started a new package of food?

 

[albinooscar]

How long has the tank been set up? Have you recently (in the last 5-6 months?) added new plants to the tank? Or started a new package of food?

Thanks for posting your opinion. I do appreciate it.

Almost a year. No, I have not added anything new or started a new food.
Obvious to me is that they came from my guppy tank because I did take some driftwood out of the guppy tank to use in shrimp tank.

As far as them being pests, I would say that is a matter of opinion. Just like it's a matter of opinion (according to my research) weather or not they are a sign of a healthy tank. Some say that (at the quantity that I have) they are sign of too much dead, decaying material and detris. Oh, and no predators eating them.

All things considered, I do believe that having them in my tank is no big deal and good but... having them in my tank in such a large quantity is something that I consider as being a pest and very ugly. I have also read that they may eat biofilm which is taking away food from the shrimp. I know, the don't eat much.

I have since removed quite a bit of them and added some very small baby guppies. The guppies seem to be doing a good job. I plan on removing them before they get big enough to eat my shrimp.

On a side note: I have been very successful in keeping the same kind of shrimp with my adult guppies.

 

[infolific]

The long and short of it? They're a sign your shrimp tank is healthy.

I've never understood this even though many people say it. I've had mass cherry shrimp deaths over extended periods in aquariums where the seed shrimp population was abundant. Seed shrimp seem indestructible to me.

 

[somewhatshocked]

I've never understood this even though many people say it. I've had mass cherry shrimp deaths over extended periods in aquariums where the seed shrimp population was abundant. Seed shrimp seem indestructible to me.

Then you've had something else go wrong in your tank. What were your water parameters at the time? Was there an ammonia spike? Was the tank treated with medication? What was the temperature? Etc?

Seed shrimp are a sign a tank is healthy because they're generally pretty delicate. They require stable parameters to hatch, survive and reproduce. They're not susceptible to the same pathogens that would impact Neocaridina.

 

[infolific]

Then you've had something else go wrong in your tank. What were your water parameters at the time? Was there an ammonia spike? Was the tank treated with medication? What was the temperature? Etc?

Yes, there was something wrong. I'm not denying that. There were no meds. I didn't figure out exactly what was wrong, but I managed to recover by revisiting the basics. I didn't mention shrimp deaths to explore what might've gone wrong. I mentioned it as an example where shrimp were dying while seed shrimp weren't i.e. in my case the existence of seed shrimp didn't translate into a health shrimp tank.

Seed shrimp are a sign a tank is healthy because they're generally pretty delicate. They require stable parameters to hatch, survive and reproduce. They're not susceptible to the same pathogens that would impact Neocaridina.

My experience differs from this. Seed shrimp seem to survive whether the conditions are good or bad for cherry shrimp. I haven't found them to be delicate at all and they breed like crazy. I once had a colony flourish outside in a 5-gallon tub with a water temperature between 20 and 35 degrees C, no specific feeding, no water changes, and occasional top-offs when I remembered. In comparison, I'd call daphnia delicate.

 

[somewhatshocked]

Note that there are thousands (maybe more than 10,000?) types of Ostracod or Seed Shrimp. There are just under a hundred or so, I think, different types that inhabit environments in North America. Some in streams, some in ponds, some in more seasonal bodies of water. Those species tend to thrive in warmer water - think 80-100F. But the varieties most common in freshwater aquaria are more delicate and require stability - usually water cooler than 80F. There are maybe a dozen or so that I see most often in imports and in my own tanks. Some only pop up and thrive in ideal Neocaridina parameter ranges, some only in specific Caridina parameters (think kH 0, gH 5.) The colony (no idea what they are) I have with my Snow Whites/Goldens thrive in 5.4/5.5 pH water but just barely exist in 6.0-6.5 water with the same hardness.

There are also some Daphnia that closely resemble the most common larger types of Seed Shrimp we see in the hobby. Some of the coolest ones I've seen are available in egg mixes from Arizona Fairy Shrimp, if anyone is interested in culturing them. They're almost bulletproof.

Both the Daphnia and the most common Seed Shrimp that tend to pop up in our water in this hobby are a sign of a healthy, stable tank. It's not so much a matter of opinion when tens of thousands of people have the same anecdotal experiences in home tanks and lab settings. Many of them won't hatch, survive and reproduce at a normal rate if parameters aren't stable. Whether or not one likes or dislikes these critters obviously boils down to opinion, however.