Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: kittenbloodcoffee on November 12, 2019, 12:04:09 PM
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So I’ve had a small tank set up for a few months, with a few ups and downs during but surprisingly no casualties however I’m just curious as I’ve seen little creatures hiding in the gravel that come out at night and swim around or stick to the glass, they’re like tiny white specks and are not long nor worm like and they’ve been around since I added glowlight tetras to the tank and they seem happy and healthy? Any ideas what they could be? I don’t believe they look like spry either, many thanks
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I'm sure one of the more experienced folk will know...a picture might help if you can get one :)
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I'm sure one of the more experienced folk will know...a picture might help if you can get one :)
I was attempting to get one but they’ve all decided to hide as the light’s on ;D
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I'm sure one of the more experienced folk will know...a picture might help if you can get one :)
I was attempting to get one but they’ve all decided to hide as the light’s on ;D
Eureka! Miniature vampires perhaps? ;D
Probably really common, watch this space as someone will know.
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I know that small things are very hard to photograph, but if you could see what you can manage it would help a lot. There are Malaysian trumpet snails which hide in the substrate during the day and come out at night, but I wouldn't describe these as tiny white specks, more like brown miniature ice cream cones.
In the meantime, do you clean the gravel when you do a water change? This is done using a siphon tube and pushing the wide end into the gravel, moving position to do all the gravel. This will suck a lot of the offending creatures out of the tank.
And how often do you do a water change, and how much? We should change half the water every week.
How much do you feed the fish? Overfeeding is common, and the left over food - and fish poo - collecting in the gravel encourages all sorts of things to flourish down there.
It may take more questions to discover what these things are but we'll get there :)
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Hi kbc,
Welcome to Think Fish! :wave:
Would it be possible to use a magnifying glass for you to see them up close and in more detail? Then let us know what you see.
JPC
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I’ve seen little creatures hiding in the gravel that come out at night and swim around...
Hi kbc,
If they're swimming around, that should rule out snails. My guess at the moment is cyclops but we need more detail.
JPC
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Hi all, managed to grab a photo of one of the creatures, many thanks
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Hmmm - my immediate thought was planaria but I'm not so sure now that I've seen the photo. Is there any possibility of taking a video and uploading the YouTube link? Sometimes it's easier to work out what creatures are by seeing their movement/behaviour.
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Probably Copepods of some sort (although that picture seems a bit blurry). Some are free-swimming, some aren’t. They move with short jerky movements, and also rest on surfaces, including the glass.
They’re very common, but in most tanks you don’t notice them because many small fish eat them, and their numbers don’t usually get out of hand.
They’ll be hiding during the day so they don’t get eaten. They’re harmless scavengers. The fact that you have a lot of them means there’s plenty of food available for them....
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Do these organisms swim with jerky movements?
JPC
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Just seen Hampalong's reply. Cyclops are a form of copepod.
JPC
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Do these organisms swim with jerky movements?
JPC
Yes they do, like an irregular start stop
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Cyclops and Daphnia are copepods. According to Wikipedia there are 2800 known freshwater species. And they’re Everywhere...
“Copepods (/ˈkoʊpɪpɒd/; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (drifting in sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), and some continental species may live in limnoterrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds, and puddles, damp moss, or water-filled recesses (phytotelmata) of plants such as bromeliads and pitcher plants. Many live underground in marine and freshwater caves, sinkholes, or stream beds. Copepods are sometimes used as biodiversity indicators.”
~Wikipedia
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Thanks for posting that!... really interesting! :cheers: