I have creatures in my tank - any ideas??

[tyrophagus]

So you know whats its like. Your starring into the depths of your tank willing your Fissidens fontanus to grow while you watch. That's when I saw it! A speck so tiny my 40yr old eyes could only just resolve it . It was swimming from leaf to leaf. Reminded me of a microscopic version of a late stage mosquito larvae, it may have a comma shape. Then I saw another and another. They stick to the wood and Fissidens, they are not found elsewhere. They are literally the tiniest white specks and they move fast.

My tank is 3 weeks old and I have no fish. I'm fortunate that the only algae I seem to have is in my filter tubing and I'm only just getting to grips with the basics, light less light and lots of co2. Hopefully my stem plants will start growing rather than turning to mush.

I have an ammonia level close to zero if not zero. I have had plants in the tank since day one and initially had high ammonia due to the amazonia substrate. I have not added any plants since day one. I use tap water.

I have a few snails from the cycled filter material I bought from TGM.

What are these creatures? Do you think they came with the original plants or filter material and survived high ammonia?

I may try capture one for further analysis!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Sound like Crustaceans, possibly Ostracods, but most likely Copepods because of the rapid movement. Have a look at:
<http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag...icroscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/articles/cyclops.html> and at the bottom of the page <http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag...roscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct01/hwdaphnia.html>.

cheers Darrel

 

[tyrophagus]

So do these Crustaceans enter the tank via the plants we buy? Are they found in everyones tanks except those perhaps with lots of fish?

Interesting that they survived the high ammonia levels.