# What the F**k is this !?! HELP



## Kristoph91 (23 Jul 2012)

I was looking into the shrimp tank this morning, having a coffee.. 

When I saw what looked like a shrimps molt. 
When I looked closer it seemed to be a tiny clear "spring". It was crawling up the moss, very slowly and its movement was really cumbersome. 

Is it a parasite?

It scared me a little bit. 
I did kill it with the tweezers accidentally. It was about half an inch long!

When I took it out of the water, its skin seemed to be made of a very elastic dot matrix. It was completely see through. Very alien looking. 

Here's some pics.







By krishumphreys at 2012-07-23






By krishumphreys at 2012-07-23

Photography is terrible on my phone, its also a very close up image. 

Some expertise would be very appreciated, this thing freaked me out big time


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (23 Jul 2012)

I dunno what it is. But 1 inch punch it, just to be sure its dead


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## MisterB (23 Jul 2012)

i have no idea, first thought it might be a sack of eggs but you said it was crawling, weird!


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## Kristoph91 (23 Jul 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> I dunno what it is. But 1 inch punch it, just to be sure its dead



 Nice one !

Yeah I thought it was eggs too, snail eggs or something!


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (23 Jul 2012)

I will Paypal you a 10er if you post a video of you eating it...


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## darren636 (23 Jul 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> I will Paypal you a 10er if you post a video of you eating it...


bet it tastes like chicken.


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## Kristoph91 (23 Jul 2012)

Thats sick Nath. I would do it though for 15 

If I end up tasting one while siphoning on a WC I'll let you know Darren 

Just found another thing like this in my windowsill floating plant jar. Must be eggs. Not moving ... Panic over ? 


Hmmmm


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## mlgt (23 Jul 2012)

Looks like might be a caterpiller outer shell?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (23 Jul 2012)

Hmm Id go eggs in filter flow blowing them slowly about?


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## dw1305 (23 Jul 2012)

Hi all,


> snail eggs


 Red Ramshorn I think, assuming they aren't in much jelly. You've contributed to a similar thread before. <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21178&start=10>, complete with pictures.

cheers Darrel


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## Kristoph91 (23 Jul 2012)

Yeah they must be red ramshorn. Pity I "killed the parasite". 

I've never seen them like that before though! I'm used to pond snails small oval packages!

Thanks Darrel


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## johnski (23 Jul 2012)

Damn.


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## Liam (24 Jul 2012)

Eggs form outer space,   
I expect they may be eggs of a flying insect, I find those eggs in containers that I use for growing mosquitos, there are no snails in the buckets and the gel is a softer jelly than snail eggs.


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## Gill (24 Jul 2012)

Not Ramshorns, These are the egg sac for Mosquitos. Find them all the time in the mozzie barrel.


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## Antipofish (24 Jul 2012)

You are ALL wrong !!! That was a very rare and very valuable body of a Guanzhou Silk Fly.  It lives underwater in that form but when it pupates it becomes the most incredible multicoloured dragonet.  Something like a dragonfly, but looking more like Joseph in his amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.  Once fully transformed, they sell on the open market in China and the Far East for anything up to £25,000 each, so beautiful are their wings.  Even as a chryssalis they are worth almost £10,000 per gram making them the most expensive legal commodity on the planet.

Of course, mutiliated by a pair of tweezers by an over zealous aquarist, they are worthless.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (24 Jul 2012)

LSD for breakfast Chris?


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## Antipofish (24 Jul 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> LSD for breakfast Chris?



Lol, you not heard of the Guanzhou Silk Fly ?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (24 Jul 2012)

Nope, you heard of Crystal
Meth?


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## dw1305 (24 Jul 2012)

Hi all,


> Eggs form outer space,
> I expect they may be eggs of a flying insect, I find those eggs in containers that I use for growing mosquitos, there are no snails in the buckets and the gel is a softer jelly than snail eggs............Not Ramshorns, These are the egg sac for Mosquitos. Find them all the time in the mozzie barrel.


No, I think they are definitely snail eggs, Mosquito eggs look like little bits of soot floating on the water surface. If you prod the egg rafts you can see them split into smaller and smaller bits containing a few eggs.

This them magnified.





cheers Darrel


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## Liam (24 Jul 2012)

Sorry I wasn't clear, I know they are not mosquitoes, but they end up in buckets that have been dry, I fill them with mucky water to attract the mosquitoes. That's why I expect that they are eggs of flying insects.  I thought that they might be drone fly eggs but I can't find an image of the drone flies eggs, the drone fly larvae are rat tailed maggots and sometimes appear in the mosquito cultures.


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## dw1305 (24 Jul 2012)

Hi all,
I sometimes get Drone Fly maggots as well, the species I get is _Eristalis pertinax_, although I expect they are all similar. Hover-fly eggs are white, so it isn't them. I still think they might be snail eggs, even in your buckets, partially because one aquatic snail (_Lymnaea peregra_, the "Wandering Pond-Snail" <http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/wandering-pond-snail>) actually wanders around out of water in wet places. I've found their shells a long way from our pond. 

cheers Darrel


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## Antipofish (24 Jul 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Nope, you heard of Crystal
> Meth?



No mate, only Crystal I know is Crystal Gayle


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## johnski (24 Jul 2012)

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Nope, you heard of Crystal
> Meth?



Is that a challenge on Crystal Maze?


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