Freshwater 'termite'? What are they?

[cs_sg]

Hello,

I just found something very very 'disgusting' appearing in my shrimp tank.
This tank has only some cherry shrimps and a few snails. Plants include some Blyxa, E.tennellus and lots of moss on driftwoods.

I noticed lately that my 2months old driftwood starting to 'decay' slowly, the surface layer of the drifwood turned powdery and these woods seem to be decaying slowly.

Last night, I was so shocked to see LOTS of 'lice-like' or rather 'termite-like' silvery creatures, all over my driftwoods, tank glass, Blyxa. These creatures crawl and allow the mild water current to take them all over the tank

Its really creepy to watch that many of them INSIDE the water. They are NOT floating/crawling/drifting on the water suface (Edited to make this clearer..I hope)
The size of these creatures is less than 1millimetre.

My shrimps seem to leave them alone.

I was panicky and decided to transfer 2 pencilfish from my other tank to 'feed' on these creatures.

I just checked and seemed that there are still quite a lot of these creatures left. I tried to google for a picture of the Daphnia and I am not sure if they are the same thing I found in the tank

Can Daphnia just appear in a tank? Don't we have to culture them?

I don't have a digital camera now to take a picture of them..and they are even too small for the naked eye..so I doubt the camera can capture the picture clearly.

[Justikanz]

Chyrl, I had those on an on and off basis in my temporary betta tank... Think they are harmless... Here's the thread...

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=16578

No conclusion, though...

[ranmasatome]

not worms thomas... they crawl around but cant see legs apparently, at least thats what miss chyrl told me.. i think they might be ostracods or isopods.

[Justikanz]

Well, I am not sure whether mine look more like worms or had legs... They are no more around the tank... But they very likely be the same... Chryl, can see from my pic in the thread if they are the same? (Hope you can see... )

[cs_sg]

Well, I am not sure whether mine look more like worms or had legs... They are no more around the tank... But they very likely be the same... Chryl, can see from my pic in the thread if they are the same? (Hope you can see... )

Thanks, Justikanz,

I don't know if its the same thing, but they don't look quite like what you have in the picture. Mine are 'yellowish-silvery' in colour, looks like 'lice'....can't really see the feelers or legs.
They tend to hang around the driftwood or tank glass.

Even with the pictures shown on the internet, I can't make out what they are. Like what Ranma said, it could be some isopods ? ostrapods?

Whether harmless or not, I'm just worried that they'll multiply too quickly as my moss are growing thicker and will make it even harder for any fish to get to them later.
This is a shrimp tank so I won't want to keep the pencilfish there permanently to hunt down my shrimplets.

[Justikanz]

INSIDE the water?

[ranmasatome]

yes..inside..swimming and crawling and freakin her out...

[cs_sg]

INSIDE the water?

YES, Justikanz.. INSIDE the water..

Are you trying to amuse me with that reply? or you really think I've mastered the skill in keeping water-less shrimp tank?
Must be my bad English in my original posts...

[Justikanz]

No lah, Chyrl, I have these small termite like creatures crawling on my wood that are OUTSIDE the water in my temporary paludarium mah. I tot maybe you have wood extending out of the shrimp tank lor... No offense hor...

[cs_sg]

No lah, Chyrl, I have these small termite like creatures crawling on my wood that are OUTSIDE the water in my temporary paludarium mah. I tot maybe you have wood extending out of the shrimp tank lor... No offense hor...

Oh.... If they are outside the water, I'll not just freak out, I'll tear down this tank immediately. . Its a 15gallon shrimp tank 2 feet away from my BED.
I won't want them to crawl onto my bed....and ewww.... especially when I'm sleeping.

No offense lah... I only started to doubt if I made my posts clear enough for readers to understand.
A picture speaks a thousand words... unable to show a pic of these creepies... too bad.

[GaspingGurami]

I've got these too.

Probably came from the mosses I pick, as I commonly find them when I overturn damp pieces of wood in the flower pots outside. They seem to be around where there is decaying wood. I even find them burrowing in my ADA amazonia soil as there is woody bits that is mixed in the gravel. (I've no moss and wood here, but I did introduce plants from another infected tank). I see them as good, as it breaks down vegetative matter for the plants and they do it under the gravel/out of sight.

My population is not exploding. I have one dwarf choc gourami which does the hunting, and it is a delight to watch. It doesn't bother the shrimps.

I got mine from Azmi @ Ecoculture. He's got no more stock, but you can see them in his display tanks. Maybe if we all go pester him, he'd be hastened to bring em in.

[Weirong]

Could those be Hydras?
Well, shrimps still doing fine right?

[cs_sg]

Yeah, the shrimps are doing well. Just 1 casaulty so far
Some of them are already getting really cherry and merry.
Waiting for them to breed.

[budak]

I should like to add that it should come as no surprise that aquatic habitats harbour more than just fish and shrimp/snails. There are countless small creatures, from water fleas and fairy shrimp and water bears, ostracods, copepods and amphipods. Plus rotifers, flatworms, mites, hydroids etc.....

Many of these little animals are not harmful, and they can often appear in waves which subside. Personally, I would be happy to see a good mix of these small creatures in a tank.

For more pictures of small aquatic animals, check this site.

[spinex]

I use to have some of them. Both inside and outside of water. But i don't know whether those in and outside the water is same species or not.

They seem to come as fast as they goes with nothing done.

If you want to get rid of them fast, just put some guppy fries inside. 1 or 2 day will clear them up. Of course don't feed the guppy !

[cs_sg]

I should like to add that it should come as no surprise that aquatic habitats harbour more than just fish and shrimp/snails. There are countless small creatures, from water fleas and fairy shrimp and water bears, ostracods, copepods and amphipods. Plus rotifers, flatworms, mites, hydroids etc.....

Many of these little animals are not harmful, and they can often appear in waves which subside. Personally, I would be happy to see a good mix of these small creatures in a tank.

For more pictures of small aquatic animals, check this site.

Thanks, Budak
Great link there.

Being ignorant, this sudden discovery really came as a big surprise probably because this tank is rather new (2months old) and the creatures just appeared all of the sudden...and in countless numbers. I guess the over reactive response is also due to the fact that throughout these few years of having aquariums in this family, I've never seen these creatures in a tank before .

This tank is so near to my bed that I really freak out big time, as I don't want to sleep next to a tankful of 'termites'.

I have this fear for anything that crawls/swim/wrigglers in big quantity.

The last time I had a freaking MASSIVE pouch snail outbreak, it took me a lot of courage and few sleepless nights to clear them all eventually.... (Hundreds of very tiny pouch snails in a 2 feet tank over a span of few months).

Thanks again for all of your kind replies to reassure that these creatures are quite harmless.

[cs_sg]

I've got these too.

Probably came from the mosses I pick, as I commonly find them when I overturn damp pieces of wood in the flower pots outside. They seem to be around where there is decaying wood. I even find them burrowing in my ADA amazonia soil as there is woody bits that is mixed in the gravel. (I've no moss and wood here, but I did introduce plants from another infected tank). I see them as good, as it breaks down vegetative matter for the plants and they do it under the gravel/out of sight.

My population is not exploding. I have one dwarf choc gourami which does the hunting, and it is a delight to watch. It doesn't bother the shrimps.

I got mine from Azmi @ Ecoculture. He's got no more stock, but you can see them in his display tanks. Maybe if we all go pester him, he'd be hastened to bring em in.

Hi Lawrence,

I bought some emersed mini moss and they are growing well (already in immersed form) in this tank. Are you suggesting that these creatures were introduced from the wood/moss when I added them in?

I'm really curious how they actually get in there in the first place. This is the first time I added in the wood without boiling them. In the past, I always boil the wood but just not this one time and I found these 'termites'.

[Weirong]

Actually all these tiny critters are always found among plants. Just like how snails stick their eggs on leaves of plants and people transport them from aquarium to aquarium. That's how they spread...

I guess you shouldn't face an explosion of these critters. But it sure would be interesting to watch though... I mean your expression...

[ahkarboy]

is it called a 'sui chi' in chinese?? i also got. harmless, i think