name that bug

[asta]

>>Hello RAFP,

Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have
shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy
seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an
upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of
plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma,
mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population
explosion...
How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4...
bad move...

>>SL


Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
they were "copepods", but when I search on this
term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.

[Charles]

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 23:44:47 -0400, "asta" >
wrote:

>>>Hello RAFP,
>
>Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have
>shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy
>seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an
>upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of
>plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma,
>mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population
>explosion...
>How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4...
>bad move...
>
>>>SL
>
>
>Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
>quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
>Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
>they were "copepods", but when I search on this
>term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
>form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.
>


Gammarus, I bet.How to get rid of them without breaking down the whole
tank? I don't know. some fish are supposed to eat them.


--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

[Eric Schreiber]

asta wrote:

> Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
> quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
> Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
> they were "copepods", but when I search on this
> term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
> form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.

They may well be copepods, even so. The sal****er varieties get a lot
more web sites (marine researchers are weird folk, eh?), but there are
freshwater varieties as well.

There almost no direct action you can take to get rid of them. You
don't want to dump chemicals in on healthy fish, and a full tank
breakdown is a nightmare.

I had a really bad infestation of these in a water-pot. I don't know
what the real name of the setup woudl be - it's a lidded one-gallon
container with a few inches of potting soil, a layer of gravel, and the
rest water. In it is growing, slowly, a Jade Sword. The water at one
point was just loaded with little critters that I assume are copepods.
I put a couple of ghost shrimp in there for awhile, and they seemed to
reduce the population of the bugs quite a lot.

And even if that doesn't work, ghost shrimp are pretty cool critters
themselves :)


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

[Aidan Grey]

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 23:44:47 -0400, asta wrote:

>>>Hello RAFP,
>
>Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have
>shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy
>seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an
>upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of
>plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma,
>mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population
>explosion...
>How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4...
>bad move...
>
>>>SL
>
>
>Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
>quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
>Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
>they were "copepods", but when I search on this
>term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
>form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.
>
>


What size of fish do you have your tank? Are any of your
fish trying to eat them?

A small creature such as you describe should be a delicacy for
a fish like a guppy.

Aidan Grey

[Craig Brye]

I noticed a couple of these same critters about 1 1/2 months ago. Since
then I have finished stocking my planted tank with Tiger barbs, Cherry
Barbs, and Gold Barbs.

No more bugs....

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online

"asta" > wrote in message
...
> >>Hello RAFP,
>
> Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have
> shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy
> seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an
> upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of
> plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma,
> mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population
> explosion...
> How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4...
> bad move...
>
> >>SL
>
>
> Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
> quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
> Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
> they were "copepods", but when I search on this
> term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
> form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.
>
>

[asta]

Rosy barbs and ghost shrimp sound like desirable
citizens...
Thanks for the input.

SL

"asta" > wrote in message
...
>>>Hello RAFP,
>
> Could anyone please advise on these "bugs" that have
> shown up in my tanks? They are about the size of a poppy
> seed, shaped like a football, and they cruise about in an
> upright position. They seem to be eating the leaves of
> plants, leaves that are alive in the case of H. polysperma,
> mostly dying leaves otherwise. There is a population
> explosion...
> How about getting rid of them. I tried CuSO4...
> bad move...
>
>>>SL
>
>
> Definitely not snails... they swim around through the water
> quite fast and have a bilaterally symmetrical body.
> Can anyone put a name to these? I always thought that
> they were "copepods", but when I search on this
> term, I see only salties referred, also mine have a compact
> form, no appendages in sight. They are white in colour.
>