# almost microscopic organisms?! help!



## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

There are some weird things swimming around my newly planted RCS tank. The best way to describe them, because they are so very small, is tough to determine. They are about as small as they could be while remaining visible to the naked eye. They usually hang out at the surface of the tank, and appear white, and swim in very small, seemingly meaningless bursts of speed. They resemble fleas, or lice, but are much smaller.

What are these? some kind of daphnea or infusoria?


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

fish food. could be daphnea, cyclopse. do they have two sack like things?


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

I can just barely see them.. i need to get an eyedropper and look at them under microscope/glass


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

They most likely aren't a problem. They are a good indication of water quality . All sorts of crazy things show up when you remove the fish


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

i had that thought for a little while too... mebe if i added a white cloud or two they could eat those buggers and leave my shrimplest alone?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

If they have very rapid jumps, they are probably Cyclops.


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## benderisawesome (Sep 10, 2008)

I'm experiencing the same thing you are. I've got all sorts of things growing in my tanks with just shrimp. Planetinverts has a great article concerning those things you're seeing

http://planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html

I also thought about putting some sort of fish in there, maybe a small one but I just couldn't do it since there were so many baby shrimp in there. Hopefully this article can shed some light on what you're seeing.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

Yep, in my all-shrimp tanks with good water quality I see all sorts of little creatures, the ones you mention, tiny planaria, limpets, all sorts of things. A small fish would naturally feast on them, but shrimp babies would probably be a meal as well. I have used a single male Endler in a 2.5 gal tank to remove planaria, but that tank had no shrimp babies at the time I put him in there.


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

benderisawesome said:


> I'm experiencing the same thing you are. I've got all sorts of things growing in my tanks with just shrimp. Planetinverts has a great article concerning those things you're seeing
> 
> http://planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html


Great article! I'm surprised that article isn't more available. Thanks for all the input guys! I have nothing to worry about now!


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

Read that too, now I kow what some of the things are and I am now feeling more at ease.


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

So now there is a different species of invertebrate, and the great link is now dead. it is round and much bigger than the "almost microscopic organisms" previously described. looks like a gray ladybug or tick, but more bulbous, and without any spots or coloration, just gray. about 1.5-2mm


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## benderisawesome (Sep 10, 2008)

I know how you feel, it seems like every day I see some new kind of bug in my shrimp tank. But so far the shrimp are doing great as well as the MTS's so I've stopped worrying.


I don't guess there's any way you could get a picture of the new bug is there?


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

not really, it is so small, that i'd need a fancy macro lens (which i have access to). 

I think I'll try and take a picture of it eventually, have to get my hands on the camera first. 

I don't think that the bugs will effect the shrimp, but i think the bugs may be nibbling on my plants.


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

mrgedman said:


> So now there is a different species of invertebrate, and the great link is now dead. it is round and much bigger than the "almost microscopic organisms" previously described. looks like a gray ladybug or tick, but more bulbous, and without any spots or coloration, just gray. about 1.5-2mm


This one is likely a seed shrimp.... http://www.sacsplash.org/critters/ostracod.htm


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

that is what it looks most like. thanks for the tip. these guys wont eat my plants will they?


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

My Celestial Pearls are just chowing these things. I have to add them to their bowl, but I take the seeds from the shrimp tank which has oodles. At least I have a source of live food for my pearls.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The little round ostracods do little harm if they are not very numerous, but the bigger oval ones can do real damage by eating away at the edges of plant leaves. The bigger ones look like this (first picture):


When they are damaging my plants, to me, they look like this (second picture): They are very hard to get rid of because they lay eggs that are resistant to drying and chemical treatments.


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## mrgedman (Oct 7, 2008)

hard to get scale out of those pictures. the ones i have are no bigger than 1.5 mm in diameter. they seem to only eat debris/detrius


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> The little round ostracods do little harm if they are not very numerous, but the bigger oval ones can do real damage by eating away at the edges of plant leaves. The bigger ones look like this (first picture):
> 
> When they are damaging my plants, to me, they look like this (second picture): They are very hard to get rid of because they lay eggs that are resistant to drying and chemical treatments.


I have seen that damage of the bigger oval ones. I have them in my macro tank...I am tempted to take her out for a few days and release an army of zebra danio into it. I can't keep any fish in there with my macro because she'd eat them.


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