# Little White "Bugs" on Glass



## MonopolyBag

So I got little white "bugs" on my glass, looking to find out what they are.

I have them in my new tank I just set up. It has a new LED Kessil 6700k on it, some old wood form my previous tank, and Fluval Stratum for Substrate, and one old plant as well. I have yet to plant it since they are in the mail. No fish, yet.

I also have these same little critters in a 10g java moss and java fern planted tank with sand substrate and guppies. They seem to hide (in the substrate I assume) when the light is on. Then every night come out and cover the wood, substrate, and glass. Thousands of them.

I caught these guys hanging out towards the bottom of the tank actually when my light was on (the Kessil in a Solana 34g.)


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## asukawashere

Could be ostracods or copepods. Or one of a gazillion other small, aquatic inverts. It's hard to tell without a microscope... in any case, they're harmless, make good food for fish, and generally are a sign of good water quality.


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## HeyPK

Those are very likely ostracods. They are generally harmless, eat single celled algae, but can turn to any thing else they can chew up, and are almost impossible to get rid of. If they get very numerous, they can kill snails by constant harassment. They are not really sought after by many fish and a few will persist even in a guppy tank. Bettas eat them and make elaborate 'munching' motions where one can hear the cracking of the ostracods' shells by the bettas' pharyngeal teeth. Many other fish often spit them back out. They lay eggs that withstand drying out and which hatch at random times, leaving, always, some eggs that have delayed hatching until some later time. Once you have them in your tank, the only way to get the tank free of them is to fill it with water, put a glass cover on it, and heat the water to at least 70 degrees centigrade. A plant that has ostracod eggs inserted in little crevasses will shed ostracods for years. The little round ones like you have are not usually harmful to aquarium plants, but they can damage floating plants, like Ceratopteris, by chewing off all the root hairs. There is a bigger oval-shaped type that can chew the leaves of many aquarium plants down to the midribs.


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## MonopolyBag

Should I try to get rid of them? (heat the water, or use copper?)


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## asukawashere

I wouldn't bother, unless they bother you visually. They mostly just nibble at biofilm, highly unlikely to bother live plants or animals... I have heard reports of them bothering snails, but unless you're planning to have nerites or something desirable IMO it's not worth the effort.

...FWIW, most perch-like fish (anabantids, cichlids, centrarchids, etc.) and loaches can and will eat them. (Loaches eat everything though! XD)


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## MonopolyBag

Well, here is the catch. I service aquariums as a business, and would like to keep these guys from spreading to any other tanks.

I do also plan on having MTS in there as I have always had good luck with them helping keep things cleaner.

I actually have Malaysian Trumpet Snails in my 10 gallon with guppies and many Ostracods.


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## MonopolyBag

Well, I am dosing my 34 g Solana with copper since there is only one plant in there. My plan is to dose with copper. Let it sit, hopefully this kills them, then use cuprisorb to get rid of copper. Then continue to run carbon for a while before my MTS go in.

Anyone know if Copper kills these little guys?


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## MonopolyBag

OK looking into it, copper does not kill them. Anyone know how to get the water temp up very high?


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## MonopolyBag

Scratch that, I just dumped a bunch of bleach into the tank. Nothing else is in there.

I plan on taking out my guppies and doing the same in there. The plants will just die. Whatever.


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## vamountainbird

Did the bleach kill the bugs in your tank?


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## vicky

It's a shame you are so afraid of nature. In my experience, especially in planted tanks, you will have these. If you have something that eats them you may not see them, but remove the predator and after a time you see these return. They are a healthy part of a natural aquarium. Bleach and copper? Why not just go with plastic plants.


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## aquaman555

Not sure if these are the exact thing I had in my shrimp tank for a while, but I had them like crazy for a while, but do not see them anymore. Blue pearls and a mystery snail, all was fine when they were in there.


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## jackgood

> OK looking into it, copper does not kill them. Anyone know how to get the water temp up very high?


You could try google-ing Electric Charcoal Starter

Just be careful, those things were designed to ignite charcoal. You may blow past 70 C, melt the silicon in your tank and watch as all four walls comically fall at the same time and dump scalding hot water everywhere. (Protip: Do this outside. )

And regarding bleach, I'm not an expert and I'm too lazy at this point to look it up but, while the bleach will most likely kill the live ostracods it may not kill the eggs. And it just takes a few missed eggs to get the whole ball rolling again.

Personally, I'm in agreement with everyone else. Those ostracods are a sign of a good ecosystem. If there's an overabundance of ostracods it means there's an overabundance of food for them. Correct the food problem and the population will go down.


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## davemonkey

I would not bother trying to kill them. Short of baking your aquarium in an oven, you will never get rid of them entirely...they will always come back. Not to mention that anything you place in your tank from somewhere else could have them (or eggs). 

Pygmy sunfish relish these creatures, as do bettas and I would guess most tetras. Even if they don't eat them out of existence, they at least will be kept low enough (the population) where you never/hardly see them and the ones that do live will help you control algae.


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## PSUFan

I believe I have the same creatures in my bowl. I've got a 2-gallon natural-planted Walstad-method shrimp bowl with 8 Red Cherry Shrimp that's been going for 3 or 4 months now. Recently, one of the berried females had her eggs hatch. I had some very tiny shrimp in my tank, but I noticed something even smaller that seemed more active than the baby shrimp. I was trying to figure out if they were just far younger shrimp or if some insect had perhaps laid eggs in my bowl and they had coincidentally hatched with the shrimp! Thankfully, I just stumbled across your post. I'm now fairly certain they are ostracods.

I attached 2 pictures for identification (please forgive the horrible photo quality, but I was trying to get a really close shot and my lens is not that great).

I'm not worried about having them in the bowl if that is all they are, but is there any way to help cull the population a bit and keep it under control without harming my RCS? I have _tons_ of these little buggers, and I just don't want them to become an eyesore and detract from the rest of the bowl if the population booms even more. With a bowl this small and no filtration, I realize my options are probably quite limited.

Thanks!


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## HeyPK

Yes, they are ostracods. They shouldn't harm your shrimp unless they get very numerous. Normally they eat algae. If they get overpopulated, they may start chewing on your plants. They can "bother" snails to death when very numerous.


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## natureintheparks

*Little strange creature in the fish tank*

Hi everyone, appreciate it if anyone can help me to identify what is these tiny creatures, which is in my fish tank. I have been trying hard to find what it is, appreciate it if anyone can provide me advice how to get rid of them.

Attached photo for your kind reference.
Thank you very much.

~ Loh


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## mistergreen

*Re: Little strange creature in the fish tank*



natureintheparks said:


> Hi everyone, appreciate it if anyone can help me to identify what is these tiny creatures, which is in my fish tank. I have been trying hard to find what it is, appreciate it if anyone can provide me advice how to get rid of them.
> 
> Attached photo for your kind reference.
> Thank you very much.
> 
> ~ Loh


Those are damsel or dragon fly larvae. They are hunters will eat small fish.


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