Water Fleas?

[Spyderdf]

hi all,


Havent been on in ages but i have a quick question


I was cleaning my oscar tank after getting banckl from vacation and i noticed what seemed to be sand blowing around my tank, which i thought it was because i just got dont cleaning out my tank so i assumed it was nothing. I came in later and saw it again so i looked closely and they looked like little sand grains that are alive, tiny crawling on my driftfood ect.

I would like to kno what this is, are they harmful what can i do to get ride of them?


Thank you

Josh

 

[black angel]

ive had those as well, but sorry i dont know what they are.

 

[grumpymole]

hmmmmmm... i used to have those and someone at lfs told me it was sand hoppers, they live on beaches and hop around a lot under water- dunno if true though, he said that they are not harmful, and seeming as u have oscars in that tank, they will probs eat the hoppers.
here is a pic of them-Sand Hopper

 

[Adistar]

Ive also had them, sorry i cant be of help but i dont think they are harmful

 

[mr.dark-saint]

I wonder if it's GAMMARUS shrimp http/www.bcadventure.com/adventure/angli...mp/shrimp.phtml.

They usually have to be introduced in order to colonize. I had a large build up when I put in some water hyacinthes from a grower. They bloomed in the Bio-filter I was using for the pond. They're great to use as food for fish. Now the mature ones are quite large (about the size of a lentil).

Then there are daphnias http/ebiomedia.com/gall/classics/Daphnia/feature_main.html

They too have to be introduced but they are much smaller also, good as fish food.

 

[ynnad]

I believe they're called copepods. nothing to wory about. smaller fish eat them but your oscar probably won't. they sometimes live in filter sponges, too.