Strange Yellow "caterpillar"?

[rainwalker]

Hey all,

I recently made the mistake of stopping my filter-cleaning mid-way thru, and chose to leave the "object guard" (with all the slits in it) off of the filter. I'd assumed that, when the filter was still running, it would just suck up big objects and either spit them back out or get clogged trying to (which didn't really matter, because I was going to fully clean it in the next day or two). Well, when I returned to my room a couple days later, 5 of my tetras and a guppy had been sucked into/killed by the filter. The same day, I also see what looks like a yellow "caterpillar" hanging onto a leaf or stem or something and just waving around like it's looking for something to grab onto or eat. It couldn't have been more than 1-2cm's big, but I don't even know where it came from or how long it's been there. I've never seen anything like it and I think I'm fairly observant when I watch the aquarium... I also haven't added anything new (like plants) to the tank for several weeks, at the earliest. One strange thing I did notice was 2 clusters of little eggs on the tank walls over the last week or so. Along with the appearance of this caterpillar, one of the clusters of 4 eggs is now gone. I've got some Corys, had 7 tetras, and regularly-spawning guppies (which I thought were live-bearers). Where did this "caterpillar" come from? What is it? Is it related to those eggs?

Thanks for any help in advance... I'm very perplexed

-rainwalker

 

[stargirly1208]

oooh do you have any live plants or driftwood in there by any chance? this is probably not a caterpillar but is a leech. it's probably whitish in color because it's dying. when i bought my driftwood and live plants from the petstore i was admiring my tank set up as usual when i spotted the same sight. a weird greyish, whitish worm thing that reaches up with an armlike thing. then i realized that it was a leech (from watching animal planet and such). so i took my net, scooped him up with some rocks and flung them into the snow.. soooooo gross. i would get him out of there and put him in the toilet or outside or something because he could grab onto one of your fish i'm sure and suck the blood out. i'm almost positive that that is what you have in your tank.

 

[tmack]

Does this "caterpillar" have legs? If it has legs it might be a dragonfly or damselfly larvae, which can also attack fish. In either case leech or some insect larvae, I'd get it out of there as soon as possible.

 

[tmack]

Found a couple older posts on leeches & damselfly larvae. Maybe what you have looks like one of these?


http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...89&hl=leech

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...mp;hl=damselfly