New Born Rcs?

Hiya, 
 
I fell off the radar for a bit but Im back again for a little advice.
 
I recently bought my daughter a RCS tank which was already up and running for a year previously. Some of you may of remembered that she wanted an eco sphere but I was talked into getting a little shrimp community. 
 
When I picked it up a couple of weeks ago the tank was so filthy, there was a thick layer of mts and shrimp crud, decaying leaves and dead plants, the water was like the water you'd chuck away after washing your filter pads in it, over the process of the 2 weeks I did 5 water changes of about 30% trying to suck up all the dirt and removed all the rubbish, I found a load of dead shrimp shells and about 10 adults and 10 babies.
 
The tank is looking better now you can actually see in it!!, Ive replanted and sorted out the water quality, the shrimp seem happy and are going about their business.
 
I have noticed that there are tiny white dots moving around like the shrimp do but they don't look like shrimp? From what I have read the new shrimp are mini versions of their parents but clear..... 
They are not planaria, they don't zig zag and are not long, They can't be copepods because they look a little fatter and they don't actually look like them either..... Can they be newly dropped baby shrimp? or do I have something else? 
 
I will try and get a picture. 
 
Thanks. 

This is the closest I can get to them with out the camera blurring up.... They are the white splurges on the black gravel, don't mistake them for gravel as there are hundreds of them!

Sounds a little unsual to be perfectly honest.
 
From the sound of it, COULD be tiny little new shrimpletes but usually you will not find them, they would be well hidden behind plants, decor, wood etc
 
Normally you will not know you have shrimplets until they are confident and large enough to pop out into open spaces of the tank. Tiny minature versions of adult shrimps, only a few mm in length.
 
Ah, Just seen you post your picture now while was composing this reply, these are not shrimps at all imho. Adult shrimps carry the aggs until the shrimps hatches, fully formed minture adult shrimps. RCS do not lay eggs.
 
Am unsure what they are in that pic actually. That would be certainly worth investigating to find out what they are in case they may prove harmful to your tank inhabitants. See if you can google images to find anything that resembles what you have in the tank.

Its hard to tell from pic, could they be small native uk shrimp? (Gammarus sp.) Do they swim about if not how do they move?

Yes they do swim about, they glide like the shrimp do and they also crawl on everything, I can only describe it as a bad flea infestation on an animals fur....
I will try and up load a link from my insta for you.
 
and I will have a look at the Gammarus sp. thanks

https/instagram.com/p/BGmN2YlxVsCr9ofWrOnIGo3juwbgVqBX1cfkWA0/
 
Heres a link.

I have loads in my tubs out back, I'll see if I can get a video of them

Just watched that little vid.
 
They do not move like shrimps, move way faster and more jerkily, nor do they really look like any specie of shrimps either tbh
 
These look like larvae of some kind perhaps....Gammarus (scuds) does seem to fit that pretty well.

get the shrimp and switch tanks IMMEDIATLEY

Couldn't get a video, too much glare. Need to invest in an underwater camera. I agree though that they aren't moving like the shrimps I thought they might be, they tend to glide through the water. Do they have legs?
 
Do you have any fish you can put in to eat them?

I think they are copepods or more likely amphipods, which type exactly I am not sure but they remind me of a land based amphipod that lives in moist vegtable matter.
 
I very much doubt that the amphipods would be hurting your shrimp, aside from eating the food that the shrimp would normally have all to themselves. If you have another tank with fish I am sure the fish would relish some tasty amphipods to supplement their diet.
 
Baby RCS do look like miniature adult shrimp, usually white when they first hatch, newly hatched cherry shrimp are less then 1mm and very good at hiding. If I had a camera with suitable zoom capabilities I would post a pic of a newly hatched RCS.

 
Baby RCS do look like miniature adult shrimp, usually white when they first hatch, newly hatched cherry shrimp are less then 1mm and very good at hiding. If I had a camera with suitable zoom capabilities I would post a pic of a newly hatched RCS.

Click to expand...

Yes if you can see them you know they are baby shrimp.

Thanks everyone, 
 
I didn't think that they were harming anything in the tank, I just wanted to know what they were, as Im a shrimp novice I had no idea what the new shrimplets look like, but since I've been studying the tank I can now see the little baby shrimp, they are absolutely tiny versions of the larger shrimp so Im convinced that these are something else. 
 
The white things don't have legs, they just look like moving insect eggs
I was thinking that I can put in a couple of platy fry for 3 days as the tank is only 25L, but theres the risk to the shrimp, I could siphon them out and dump them into the 300L tank when they get out of control.
 
From observing the tank, they hang out near the filter in a group and seem to be cleaning the gravel, some swim off in a gliding motion to the shrimp pellets and totally ignore the shrimp, Ive read about seed shrimps (ostracods) recently and I think this s what they are?