Larva acting "drunk" - what's up with that?

[Molch]

so last night I had a bit of a scare with my one-and-only pyrrhogaster larva. (My female laid lots of duds this year-except one egg that developed). The larva inhabits a 3-ga plastic tank with hornwort and resident Daphnia. It is now 3/4 inch long with all 4 legs and has thrived so far. I named her "Una" because she is, well, the only one.

Last night I found her hanging in the water at an angle, and when I nudged her she scooted around uncoordinated, even swimming upside down and in tight circles and generally acting as if - well, let's just say if she'd been human I would have taken her car keys away and called a taxi. I immediately tested the water but all was fine.

I went to bed discouraged because I thought for sure I'd find her dead in the morning. However, this a.m. she looks her normal perky self and at press time was sitting there fat and happy with a belly full of brine shrimp.

what would cause an episode like that? A dislodged Daphnia in her gut? An airbubble somewhere? Anything I can do to avoid this in the future?

 

[stanleyc]

I dont know what the cause might be, but I've seen a couple of my C. Orientalis larvae do the same and they're fine now as juveniles. Someone else might be able to tell you the cause.

 

[Molch]

well, I noticed with any of them that they get sluggish when they fed heavily and their bellies are shock-full. But this was different...she actually looked uncoordinated.

Anyways, she's fine now so I have hopes I'll be able to raise one single pyrrh babe this summer

 

[stanleyc]

Another thing, when I saw my orientalis showing this behavior before, it was right after I moved them into another tank. So for mine it was most likely the shock of a new home. But you didn't mention moving them, so it's not that, but might just be some other kind of shock. either way, good to hear he/she is doing well, just keep an eye out.