Bugs On Top Of Water?

[sawickib]

Hi, not really an emergency but ive noticed tiny, tiny little bugs living on the surface of my two tanks, the 180 and 55 gallon. They occurred after i got back from vacation, which means there wasnt a water change for 2-3 weeks. Well its been more than a month now and they are still there hopping around on the surface of my water, any idea on what these things are and where they might of come from? I live in florida if that has anything to do with it. I have no idea how they would even be introduced the only thing i could think of is my neighbor some how brought them into, or more precisely on my tank while he was feeding them. Hes a construction worker...

 

[Ch4rlie]

A bit unusual, perhaps a pic would help to id them.

You could maybe scoop them out with a fine mesh net if you don't want them on water surface?

 

[attibones]

Where I live, if I'm not really careful about keeping the tanks super covered, I often get tiny little gnats in the house. They are attracted to water and, obviously, those of us with MTS have a lot of water to offer! I'm in Mississippi, so it's hot, humid, and all around disgusting, making my house a prime target for this stupid guys. I got rid of them by washing thoroughly all of my plants close to the surface of the tank because the bugs were breeding in them. Then, I covered the tanks with thick towels and taped garbage bags over the towels to create a seal (I covered the filters as well), and then sprayed the room with flying but spray, which knocked out the rest. Finally, I stopped leaving the back door open for the dogs (which seems not to be your case). By the end of June (they started up in May-ish), I had knocked them all out.

Your bugs may not be exactly the same, but maybe some of that will help.

You may also want to scoop them up with a net.

 

[sawickib]

Thanks for the advise, but i dont believe a photo would help, the bugs are so small you can barely see them with the naked eye and are constantly jumping. They are so small that they literally just hop along the surface of the water like its land. I did however notice very small nats/no cms in the water that were dead. Maybe these things are the larval stage? They are very very very tiny. Nevermind a quick google search says other wise. 
 
These kinda look like what i have, but i think mine are smaller and have shorter legs. http/bugguide.net/images/cache/QHERRH6RDZ7ZPLYL2LYLNLJLWLFLNLXRWLQRFZZZTLQZHH0RRHKZVLERRHER1LXZUL3LPLFL3ZIRPLRZNL0RYZRZ3Z.jpg

 

[attibones]

Those look exactly like the gnats I had before they could fly! Is that an adult insect, do you know?

Do you have any floating plants in these tanks?

 

[sawickib]

Were those bugs able to fly on yours? Or were they very tiny and just hopped on the surface? I keep trying floating plants and they just up disappearing... I do however have artificial floating plants.

 

[attibones]

The adults I had did fly, but the juveniles hung out on top of the water. Try rinsing your artificial floaters and see if that helps to remove any eggs or babies. I had a molly who enjoyed eating them (fatty) but I don't know if this was safe. She didn't get sick though.

 

[sawickib]

The bugs are so tiny, they look like tiny red specs jumping around the surface of my water, they arent all the same shape either, some look like peanuts and some look like ovals and some look like fleas. Uggg idk what they are, im surprised they didnt die off when i treated the tank with prazipro for the parasites my polys had. But then again they dont live in the water, just on it.

 

[Wildbetta]

I have some of the same things on my tanks occasionally.  Not really sure what they are or if they are a problem.  I have surface breathing fish so I would guess that my fish eat them when noticed on the surface of the water.   I treat them like a live food source for my fish and don't concern myself too much over them.

 

[sawickib]

Heres some photos of the bugs, very tiny. All the fish in this tank are bottom dwellers, but in my 180 gallon has them to with pearl gouramis and they still seem to be there, not very many though.

 

 

 

 

[star4]

Guessing either some sort of ostracod (seed shrimp family) or possible as you are in the states springtails maybe..
 
http/bugguide.net/node/view/2657/bgpage
 
The more mature a tank gets the more weird and wonderful micro bugs seem to appear.

 

[sawickib]

Those do kind of look like them, thanks star, so i guess i should not worry about them haha

 

[star4]

I have a strange array of all sorts of bugs in my oldest tanks, some little ones that live on the inside of the tank lid which actually do a good job of eating any algae that builds up (Juwel tanks plastic lids), I dont think they area anything to worry about at all