"things" in my gravel!

[chris_1127]

I was doing a water change on my 15g last night (dwarf puffers, bumblebee gobies, oto's and shrimp) and emptying the water into the bath to ensure there were no stowaways being sucked up the syphon. After the water i removed settled i could see lots of tiny organisms scuttling about in the water, on the bottom. Theyre tiny, about 1mm diameter max and kinda round. Not worm-like, assuming small crustaceans of some kind but havent got any way of looking at them closer. Nitrates were getting on for 40 before changing the water, ammonia and nitrites 0, pH 7.5, temp 25.5. Any guesses what they might be and should i be worried?

 

[chris_1127]

update - had a look at these things under a microscope, they are shaped like a grain of wheat or similar grain, with a split down the centre. they open along this split and lots of cilli type things pop out, and they scoot around fairly quickly. about 1mm dia approx, visible with naked eye just.

 

[breezer40]

No expert but could be hydra. Link here that describes them.

http/www.goldfishinfo.com/pests.htm

 

[chris_1127]

cheers for the link, i dont think its these though, rather than being worm-like they have a bivalve structure and open up quite wide kind of like a clam or something, about 1mm dia and kind of offset-oval

 

[WILDER]

Could it be these.
http/www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Argulus

 

[chris_1127]

i dont think so, there were no external features as in those pics other than when the two halves opened, and then it was feathery think limbs that stuck out, theyre pretty small too, max 1mm and only just visible with the naked eye. When closed they had almost exactly the same profile as a grain of wheat from above

 

[purple_drazi]

whatever they are, they definately sound ewwww.

 

[WILDER]

http/edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_FA091

 

[emo]

Look anything like this at all?

and

If so they are ostracod.


I have them in my tank... i think they came in on my live plants. apparently their eggs are damned near IMPOSSIBLE to kill.

My tank's still cycling, but I was under the impression that fish will eat them... but I guess not?
As far as i'm aware they are completely harmless to fish, but they do multiply quite quickly and become a bit unsightly in the tank

Only way i've found out to control their numbers is just to try and syphon them out as best as possible

 

[WILDER]

There weird little guys.

 

[chris_1127]

Thats the things! I just bought a couple of new plants and put them in without disinfecting, thats probably where theyve come from then! Hopefully the shrimp and bumblebee gobies will find them tasty then!!! Cheers for the pics/info!!