# Uh... need help



## MonopolyBag (Jan 11, 2008)

I plan to take pictures later on, but busy now... but I have noticed, a while ago... little things that are round, about the size of a pin head, they look like tiny light gray crustasions. There are hundreds in my 5.5 gallon betta tank. I have a sand bottom, and live plants in there... and it looks as if these guys eat the detritus. But I have no idea what they are, or if they are bad/good. And they don't look too nice either. TOO MANY! and they tend to stay near the bottom. Will get pics later.

Any ideas?


----------



## PMD (May 3, 2005)

Sounds like ostracods.


----------



## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

They are indeed ostracods I would say by your description and are harmless and will not survive except in very clean healthy matured tanks. They are actually an indicator of a healthy mini ecosystem and they are in all my shrimp tanks.

They just seem to appear out of nowhere, but again are a good sign your tank is healthy.

Cheers, Bill


----------



## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

are these the little things that zip arround for no reason (their movement is very random), looking like they are having seizures?


----------



## MonopolyBag (Jan 11, 2008)

They do not zip around, they only swim, not too fast but not slow either.

They do look like ostracods. I looked up some pics and kinda look like that.

Anything to get rid of them or keep their pop down? You sure they are harmless? And I dont mind them, but there are too many to like. I noticed hundreds more in my betta tank and now some in my guppies tank.

Here are my pics.



















Anything that eats these guys? that would be best in my mind.


----------



## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

I bet you don't have much of a current in that tank........I had a major problem with them in the past and they died off when I increased my waterflow.
But as everyone says........they're harmless.


----------



## MonopolyBag (Jan 11, 2008)

Well, during the day I have no current, and during the night I only have current from a ten gallon wisper filter turned all the way down, this is becaus ethe Beta fish prefers low to no current. This has presented me with the problem if just trying to keep the water in good condition, but have not nboticed too much problem. I actually had this tank set up as a salt water, and converted it to fresh with little change. I took out much of the stuff, I actually left half the sand in there, and just added new play sand.

And continued to change water frequently before I put in any plants or fish.

Like I stated before, but just restating, does anyone know of anything, fish I am guessing, that would eat these?

If so, then let me know, and I would like to try and control their population.

I have noticed that during the night when the lights go off, they come out of the sand and rocks and swim around more than they do suring the day.

I guess this is similar to salt water tnak with allo the things that end up living in and around the rocks and sand.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

If you put a broad leafed plant in there for the betta to rest on when he's tired (maybe a crypt or small sword) you should be able to keep your filter on all the time.

If you think your Whisper 10 puts out too much current, you could maybe try an AZoo palm? They're usually very very cheap but good filters...


----------



## MonopolyBag (Jan 11, 2008)

I got an ozelt sword in there now, maybe I should get some more things. But, ok thanks.


----------



## PMD (May 3, 2005)

GlitcH said:


> I bet you don't have much of a current in that tank........I had a major problem with them in the past and they died off when I increased my waterflow.


They probably didn't die off completely. They're probably just living in your gravel.

I never saw my ostracods in open water again after upgrading the filtration on my 55 gal to an Eheim 2217. I can however see plenty of them moving around in my black Flourite now.


----------



## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

Sounds as though your tank has gone through a good maturity cycle where you have beneficial lifeforms thriving in a cohabited environment. Be aware, many other small creatures inhabit aquariums and are part of the food and filtration cycle, At times, you may have population explosions but normally with time, they balance out. It would not be recommended to consider any plan to reduce the ostrocods in your tank, though it may cause a problem down the line....ex: water quality.


----------

