# Bugs....



## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

I have been plagued by this bug for quite some time and they seem to be multiplying in great numbers. Can anyone tell me what it is and how to get rid of them? Will they hurt my plants/shrimp? They do seem to be eating any algae they can find as they are very green.

Any and all help appreciated.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=2066&c=15


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

They look like ostracods, and when they get numerous, they can damage your plants by chewing on the leaves. They are very difficult to get rid of. My guppies will not eat them, but perhaps other fish will. The adults stuff eggs that are almost impossible to kill in crevices . The eggs withstand drying and seem impervious to any chemicals, including concentrated bleach and concentrated hydrochloric or nitric acids. The eggs also have delayed hatching times so that hatching is strung out over more than one year. Ostracods have been around for at least 400 million years, and once a tank has them, I have not yet figured out a way to get rid of them.


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

HeyPk, Thank you for your reply. UGGG!

I have recently found these on a plant and that is almost all you can see of the plant. 

This is a shrimp tank. Is there a fish that I can put in this tank that will eat the "bugs" and leave the shrimp alone? I really hate having to move the shrimp to another tank to put a Betta (I'm sure they would eat them) in the tank.

It's getting to the point that these creatures are more noticeable than the shrimp that are swimming around.

I want to use some of the plants in this tank to start another (5.5 gal) planted tank (possible contest entry). If I rinse the plants really well before putting the plants into the new tank should I be okay with not transferring them to the new tank?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

If it were me, I'd rescue the shrimp and write off the rest of the tank. Those things just aren't worth the aggravation (no, I don't have them myself).


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

There will be ostracod eggs on the plant. Let me tell you how I found out about the delayed hatching times of the eggs. I had a wimpy little crypt plant---all that was left of a big bunch of C. albida that I had taken to the LFS. The plant was in a tank that had the ostracods, and I thought I would get rid of them by floating the crypt in a jar of water, and changing the water every week or two. If I do that, I thought, none of the baby ostracods that hatched would have time to become adult and lay more eggs. Well, I changed and changed and changed, rinsing the jar and plant thoroughly every time, and, after 6 months, baby ostracods were still showing up. The supply seemed endless. None of the babies ever reached adult size, and therefore they must have been coming from the original eggs.

Crayfish eat the ostracods, but they would probably eat your shirmp too! ](*,)


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Here is a site about Ostracods... http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/ostracod.html#intro


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

This is really disturbing me. I finally have my tank planted semi-heavily and to tear down the tank, I would have to start all over with the plants and Eco substrate as well. I have a bag and a half of the eco still but I was wanting to put that into my 5.5 gallon tank to start it up. As far as the filter goes, it is just a sponge filter at the moment and I could probably just get by with putting a new sponge on.

I may just put the shrimp into the 5.5 gallon tank and put a Betta in the tank to see if it will eat these things first. I realize the eggs will continue to hatch but maybe after quite a while (a year or two) it will get rid of the things. 

Is it even possible to move the shrimp to another tank without transferring any baby (microscopic) ostracods with them in the net and infecting the new tank? 

I wish I knew how I got these things in the first place. I just sent an order of Red Cherry Shrimp (with hornwort) to someone and I made sure I didn't have any of these things in with them but I hope I didn't have any microscopic ones that I didn't see. I would really hate to pass them on to someone else.


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## frozenoak (Jul 30, 2005)

It's just a thought but you may want to try a spotted or figure 8 puffer. Their favorite food is small crustaceans. They don't get all that big and the sponge filter is best with them (they don't swim well in a current). I am not sure if they are plant friendly since I am new to plants and my puffers went the way of the dodo 6+ years ago. Also, they are really a brackish water fish although they will live in fresh water. The problem with them is they are usually best kept alone or in a species tank.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Well I have a one gallon nano, my plants dont seem to be affected, but when they have a population outburst, it is very unsightly, usually I just clean my glass walls and chrush them. Taking photo is really tough with them, I hope someone knows how to get rid of them. A puffer seems like a good idea but I have shrimps.


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## frozenoak (Jul 30, 2005)

turtlehead said:


> A puffer seems like a good idea but I have shrimps.


Good point turtlehead, I was thinking the puffer would be good after she moved the shrimp to the 5.5gal tank


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

turtlehead said:


> Taking photo is really tough with them, I hope someone knows how to get rid of them. A puffer seems like a good idea but I have shrimps.


Your telling me. It took me forever (if all else fails, read owners manual ](*,) ) to get a good enough picture to be able to see them well enough to tell what they are besides a smear across a picture. I hope someone knows how also but it doesn't sound promising.

puffer + shrimp = no shrimp besides I have a hard enough time looking at that fish in a pet store let alone my house. I think I will stick with the Betta idea (I raise them and have several of them already). Maybe I will just turn this tank into a female community tank for a while.

Thanks for the ideas though.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I had a Betta once, and it did eat the ostracods. I could hear a crunching sound when the Betta chewed them up with its pharyngeal teeth. If you have fish that eat all the young and adult ostracods, in a few weeks, you can probably assume that new growth on stem plants will not have any eggs. The new growth can then be transferred to another tank without transferring the ostracods. Plants that send out runners can be freed of the ostracods by harvesting the new plants from the runners provided all the adult ostracods have been eaten. I have had these ostracods do really serious damage to my Cryptocoryne. They can chew the leaves right down to the midribs. 

Getting an aquarium free of them is another matter. The eggs are stuffed in crevices between the silicone and the glass. They tolerate drying indefinitely, and when water is added, they don't all hatch. I have tried undiluted liquid bleach, concentrated borax soap, and several concentrated acids with no effect. I wonder how heat tolerant they are. I could try filling the tank with water and putting in several aquarium heaters. I don't know how high a temperature an aquarium can stand. It might fall apart if the silicone weakens. Does anybody know if silicone keeps its strength at temperatures higher than 50 degrees centigrade?


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## Praxx42 (Mar 4, 2005)

Sunnoffa! THAT'S what those are!

I have a 3 gallon acrylic box that I've been growing pelia in for the last few months... about 2.5 months ago, I started noticing these lil freaks all over the place but couldn't figure out what they were.

Thanks!


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Figure 8 puffers are NOT freshwater fish. Not sure how well your plants would do in a brackish environment.


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