This week's Bug Identification challenge

[Karmicnull]

My 12L low tech shrimp tank has got an infestation of 100+ small oval stripy bugs.
These appeared overnight (literally - they weren't there last night, and were this morning).
They are good swimmers, and move smoothly. They are mostly sticking to the roots of the water lettuce, but some are venturing as far as the substrate.
The tank is open top, and I haven't added anything to it since 12th December.

The shrimp are bemused.

Any thoughts?





Cheers,

Simon

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Any thoughts?

<"Ostracods"> ("Seed shrimps") @X3NiTH also had <"some stripy ones">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Siege]

Free fish food? 😂

 

[Karmicnull]

"Ostracods"> ("Seed shrimps") @X3NiTH also had <"some stripy ones">.

Thanks Darrel - I thought they looked a bit like that but am stumped as to the sudden appearance.

Free fish food?

This crossed my mind too. It's a tricky question. At what point do I reckon my Cladogonium ogishimae problem has gone away and I am ok to break tank isolation protocol, syphon them up and give my fish a surprise treat? I think I'll wait another month or so to be sure. In the meantime, it looks like my Neocaridina have competition for the food.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Free fish food?

Depends on the fish. I fairly briefly owned <"Dicrossus maculatus"> and they ate them, but most other fish aren't that keen, presumably because of the hard shell. The <"Copella I have at the moment"> ate them when I first went in the tank, but as soon as they were acclimatized and knew they were going to get grindal worms etc. they ignored them.

In the meantime, it looks like my Neocaridina have competition for the food.

They are really common in shrimp tanks.

but am stumped as to the sudden appearance.

All my tanks have had them during the set-up time without fish. They are <"very efficient at finding new "ponds">, partially because they have persistent resting stages that blow about with the dust etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[Majsa]

I had a lot of these in a new tank, but when the CPD's came in, they vanished in a day or two and never came back.

 

[Karmicnull]

They are <"very efficient at finding new "ponds">, partially because they have persistent resting stages that blow about with the dust etc.
Cheers Darrel. Interesting article. Although I did laugh though when I read "The number of swimming ostracod individuals was checked daily by visual inspection." I can't even validate my 6 panda corys with visual inspection - they resolutely refuse to stay still. How one does it for a thriving population of Ostracods I have no idea. So in conclusion it's reasonable for it to have been aerial colonisation of this tank.

Cheers,

Simon