Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:23 pm Post subject: Re: What are these white insects inside my substrate?
Ok here are the details..
Tank around 6months old..
2 times a day i feed. Once in morning and once in evening..
Basic top filter.. Didn't upgraded yet.. Planning to do..
Fishes: neon, raminose, rainbow shrimps, snow white and cherry.. and 2 auto.
Ferts: Ada brighty K and step1
Any more details you need?
Joined: Oct 09, 2011 Posts: 1564 Location: hebbal,banglore
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: What are these white insects inside my substrate?
Thanks a lot cyclopse...I was having the same thing in my shrimp tank but was unable to take a reasonable picture.
So I will be following this thread.
For me till now, I have not faced any issue having them in my tank . I thought these are daphnia since they look similar in the picture given for daphnia in Wikipedia. But I was never sure since many of our guys try hard to keep daphnia culture but these thing in my tank are flourishing without any effort.
Here is what i do. I have a marimo ball in my shrimp tank so these things settle on it. So once or twice a day i take the marimo ball and shake these guys into my fish tank. Fishes seem to love them as they go wild when they see them.
These guys form a free live food for my fishes so I am happy having them.
For you i think they will be always under the substrate as it is dangerous to come out........Am i right?
I had a similar issue when i tried a Betta in that tank thinking that it will eat all these guys(even though the betta may eat some shrimplets but prefer on these as they are not as fast as shrimps).But the result was all of them disappeared into the substrate and i lost some shrimplets.
But lets see if any of the experts will come up with a appropriate answer on what it is and if they are harmful or not?.
Personally I had only advantages but who know if I am missing anything
Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 215 Location: cox town, bangalore
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:57 pm Post subject: Re: What are these white insects inside my substrate?
i have the same stuff in my shrimp tank, infact somehow they also made way to my new shrimp tank.They are not daphnia( although they look almost same).i had googled and found out they are harmless.(forgetting the name now, will update here later) you can let it be else if dont want them just leave a few guppy babies , or a pair of small neon tetra and they will clear them off in 2-3 days depending on their hunger .
you can leave adult guppy and neons also but if you have shrimp hatchlings in your tank they would be gone too if they can fit in their mouth.
i have the same stuff in my shrimp tank, infact somehow they also made way to my new shrimp tank.They are not daphnia( although they look almost same).i had googled and found out they are harmless.(forgetting the name now, will update here later) you can let it be else if dont want them just leave a few guppy babies , or a pair of small neon tetra and they will clear them off in 2-3 days depending on their hunger .
you can leave adult guppy and neons also but if you have shrimp hatchlings in your tank they would be gone too if they can fit in their mouth.
Regards
Asif
I have 15neons+4 raminose+6cardinals and 4 guppies and no one likes them. I also have 2 endler guppies. They love to eat them though.
Joined: Jan 26, 2010 Posts: 22 Location: New Delhi
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject: Re: What are these white insects inside my substrate?
Seed shrimps undoubtedly!!
For my love for critters (tiny freshwater inverts), I actually had a colony of seed shrimps running in a 6 inch glass cube for almost 2 years. They are filter feeders and you just need a few to start a whole colony. Seed shrimps are bivalved Ostracods, a type of crustaceans. I made some very interesting observations on their behaviour, feeding habits, etc during the two years after which the colony crashed mysteriously. I think these critters can serve as a good model to study population dynamics. Seed shrimps are fun to watch, especially the characteristic zig-zag fashion they swim about. They are pretty harmless and if they swim in the water column, your fishes will love to feast on them. That is why you see them thriving in the substrate and not the water above. However, an excessively large number in your substrate could also mean there is lots of debris deposition and leftover food. I think you should cut back a little on your feeding regime and vacuum your gravel to remove the debris, that will control their population to a stable limit. For any more queries, feel free to contact!
Someone also mentioned a FW limpet. I must say I can spot at least one limpet in the macro shot, at 10 O' clock position.
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what needs to be done here? Or let it be like that?
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