*~*~ White Critters In Taricha Tank ~*~*

Hey guys, guess who?? I have these itty bitty little critters, look like larvae or the young stage of something, either an insect or my boyfriend thinks brine shrimp on the inside glass of my tank. They are almost covering the entire side of the tank. My tarichas don't seem to care, or want to eat them because they're so small, so I guess my main worry is that I don't want critters growing and getting bigger in my tank. Do you guys have any suggestions as to how I can get them out, and where they came from? I have all live plants in my tank but I washed them all very carefully before I put them in. I guess they still could have been on the plants. They're so small I can't really just scoop them out or anything. I didn't want to take the water depth down too much because of the water change on my newts.

Is it possible they're brine shrimp coming from my frozen bloodworms?? I tried rinsing the bloodworms in the beginning but it was so difficult straining the water off and GAH. If this is the case, can you all let me know how you rinse and thaw out your bloodworms??? Help!

critters!!

Lindsay

P.S. oh, and my larger girl is doing much better now. She's eating and pawing at the glass again. I guess she just had some trouble and needed to throw up. I also am beginning to think my little guy is male..hmm..maybe I'll post pics

are these white critters in the water or on land?

in the water. I just realized that they are on all sides of the glass of my tank. It's really freaking me out. Even if they're harmless, I don't want millions of these things living in my tank. They are even getting in between the silicone sealant that's holding their land area in place. Most of them are actually on the walls of my tank (in the water) and kindof move around on the walls, and some are a smidge bigger and are propelling themselves through the water. My boyfriend said when he had newts, he would get these little white things in his water too. He thought they were brine shrimp. He said he just kept changing the water and thought they came from the food. He had his fbn's in like 1 inch of water (not knowing any different, this was years ago) so it was easy for him to change it often. Since I have 8 inches of water, how in the world am I going to get these creepy things out!??

AHH Lindsay

okay, I've been reading stuff about feeding frozen bloodworms. I guess I need to find a fine mesh strainer. Is that metal or plastic? Where can I find a very fine strainer?? Also, I've heard everyone say that they put the worms in a dish. Is this dish in the water??? How in the world do you get the bloodworms to sink?? Mine will only sink in clumps and even getting the clump to stay down is difficult. Will newts eat out of the water?? Are you all putting a dish out of the water??

Also, I'm thinking of using a turkey baster to suck these creepy things out of my tank. eehehhehe

~Lindsay

(Message edited by lindsay on June 28, 2005)

sounds to me like nematoads. or possibly hydras if they are sticking to the walls. a picture would help.

A picture is definitely good, if you can get a good shot (and in focus). It's more likely to have come stuck on your plants (even through your washing).

Ira's guess is probably right. Just to throw out another idea...it could be planaria. Tim (who else?) has a photo of these critters in this thread: http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/8/1964.html

It's doubtful that the white things are brine shrimp because they need a very saline environment to remain alive.

The very few times I've fed frozen bloodworms, the majority seem to sink with a few strands floating in the water. The fine mesh strainer can be just a brine shrimp net or even an old nylon stocking.

Oh yea, I love turkey basters. They're not only useful, but inately humorous.

Hope this helps.

(Message edited by apples on June 29, 2005)

I really doubt I'll be able to get a photo of these guys, they're really small...like almost pinhead small. Even if I do get a pic, it would be another week to get it up because I am old fashioned and have a 35mm. I'll do my best.

good news though! I made a break-through with my newts! I used a $1.00 small fish net to strain the bloodworms! It worked great. Then I tried the tweezers deal and they ate from them! It took some coaxing but I think they're getting brave enough to come up and eat like this. It was really great. Then I could suck up the un-eaten "worms" with the turkey baster.

Well, that problem solved. I'm still wondering about the critters. Ok, so not brine shrimp. They are very very small, but the few of them that are a bit larger really do seem to be buzzing around the water. I also saw these things all over the rocks on the bottom. The tank was due for a water change so I did 30% to knock out some of the critters...i think it just shook them up.

I'm sure I got rid of some of them. Do you think they are harmful to my newts? I would think if they came in on the pond plants, and my newts are wild caught, that some natural creature would hopefully not bother them. Do you think with regular water changes I'll eventually get rid of a lot of them?

GAH, but even if I do get rid of them, they'll just multiply anyway...

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Pin-Pin, what do you feed instead of bloodworms? I give them earthworms when I get the chance. I was planning on taking a trip to Wal-Mart and getting some small worms.

If you look at them really close, are they kind of round with a Y shaped tail? These would be copepods of sorts (cyclops?). But keep in mind that it's normal for tanks to go through 'blooms' of microorganisms before it settles into its long term plateau. All tanks have all sorts of little bugs and swimmy things. This is healthy. If you go look at a pond, look at how much swims through the water. Remember looking at pond water in a microscope? Healthy.

Copepods came to mind to me as soon as I read the first post.

Ed

I was pretty sure that the little things wouldn't be bad, as I work at a pond store and see lots of healthy critters I just don't know if I want an invasion...they are too small to recognize anything like a tail. They are basically little white balls or dots, that swim around. I'm not really worried, just something that's been on my mind...

Ah they swim around. When I first read your description about "covering the side of the tank," I thought perhaps they were just crawling on the glass.

If they swim around, they are likely copepods, as Joan and Ed said.

I feed chopped nightcrawlers to my animals. Often I dust with calcium if they are terrestrial juvenile. If they are in the water, I feed the worm to them straight (haven't really found any efficient way to 'dust' the food.) Depending on how large your animal is, you need to chop it to the right size. I tend to make them into pieces about half the size of the animal's head and then feed until the animal no longer has any interest.

I have a humorous and gruesome description on this site: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms2.shtml

(Warning, not for the worm lovers.)

Thanks. I was reading about copepods in a goldfish book we have at work. That kindof seems like them. It's really hard to tell. They are stuck onto the glass under water and they swim around, but they're so small they just look like little white balls, basically.

I have something that sounds similar. I don't have a filter in my tank either. they're tiny white ovals with perhaps 6 legs, about a millimeter long in all. I was hoping they were just a natural thing that occurs in unfiltered water. I hope they're not dangerous.

possibly water mites. water mites, im pretty sure, are harmless

I really wouldn't worry about the critters. However, I WOULD consider cleaning up all the debris in the tank and perhaps doing larger water changes (25-50%) for a few weeks. See:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Tank_critters.shtml