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water surface bugs......

Ady34

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UKAPS Team
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Co. Durham
Hi, presume these are harmless, but they are rapidly increasing in numbers, should i do anything with them or leave them alone? Where do they come from and is it natural for them to flourish into an army! Does it suggest theres something amiss?

Pic not great but all the little dots on the plants at the surface are little bugs, and little bug skins:

feb20122013.jpg


Cheers,
Ady.
 
Hey Ady, I was round somethingfishy's the other day and he has small black bugs like these all over his frogbit and clear jelly on the underside which I guess are eggs. Once hatched they seem to eat the frogbit??
I'm curious to know what these little critters are also?

Seems to be a lot of little bug outbreaks around at the moment....
 
i agree, there does seem to be a fair few people getting them. I have the white ones at present...
 
sr20det said:
I am surprised fish dont chomp them up?
i wish they did, i think they are so small they dont have a visible footprint by breaking the water surface so the fish cant see them? That and they just seem to congregate on the plants a bit like greenfly!
 
Ady34 said:
sr20det said:
I am surprised fish dont chomp them up?
i wish they did, i think they are so small they dont have a visible footprint by breaking the water surface so the fish cant see them? That and they just seem to congregate on the plants a bit like greenfly!

A betta would make short work of them, when I used to have one, it only liked to eat from surface, anything that sank got left
 
sr20det said:
betta would make short work of them,
I have 2 siamese fighters that i need to rehome :( , a blue delta and a crowntail, i would put the delta in here as hes gorgeous, but i know hell eat my shrimp!
 
Hi all,
You've got aphids or "Green-fly", the white bits are shed skins. When I was a kid we used to try and keep Sticklebacks, and the only time I was successful was when I fed them green-fly.

Tetras etc will go for them under the water, and Killis, Pencil fish and Hatchets love them. I'd just swirl all the Salvinia about in a beaker, and then pour the green-fly/water suspension into the tank. It might take the fish a while to get the idea that they are food, but once they do they will really go for them.

If you leave them they will slightly weaken the plant (by tapping into the phloem), but they main problem is that the honey dew they produce will cause sooty moulds to grow on the leaves.

You may find if you leave them that they will naturally become parasitised by a small "wasp" (Aphidius) parasitoid. You should see some brown "mummified" aphids if they are, and these will soon control them.
(If you like the film "Alien", Aphidius is the creature for you).

Aphidius12.JPG


cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrell and great photo of the predation!
Noticed a bit of weakness in some of the plants, going greyish and holes etc.
dw1305 said:
Tetras etc will go for them under the water, and Killis, Pencil fish and Hatchets love them
I was just looking at rocket killis the other week and 10 marginatus pencilfish last weekend which i nearly bought! I love hatchetfish too, maybe this is an excuse to get more fish :) . I have cardinals already so could really just do as you suggest and swirl round in a beaker and pour into the tank..... but more fish, mmm....
next question, will my tank take more stock, i currently have 1 siamensis, 13 cardinals, 14 rummy nose, 13 harlequins, 3 ottos and 10 shrimp - 180l, fluval G6, LOTS OF PLANTS, every 6th day 40% water changes.
Please reply yes....
:D
 
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