Mystery Wingless Aquatic Fly!?

Hi,

After 3 months, I finally cleaned out my Interpet external canister filter.
I rinsed the sponges in aquarium water and replaced most of the filter wool
expect for one tiny bit. I also raised the temperature a few degrees to
increase the fish's metabolism for a few days.

This morning I had a quick look at the filter for any leakages and to my
surprise, looking through the clear plastic canister, saw a foreign object
in the clean white filter wool. A closer inspection revealed what appeared
to be a large, semi-transparent, wingless house fly. What really freaked me
out was that it was moving around!

The aquatic fly thing is about 3/4 of an inch in length with a fat body and
a normal set of fly legs. Almost forgot to mention that it is not very
pretty!

The first question is how did such a large insect get in there? It would
need to pass the two layers of sponges and then through some of the dense
filter wool. I can only assume it was born there! What sort of fly thing can
thrive in such an environment? Consider that I only cleaned the filter last
night.

A few weeks ago, while vacuuming the gravel in a hard to reached location, I
spotted a fly larva flexing its long thin body to escape. It was about an
inch in length. It suddenly disappeared and I thought that maybe it went up
the filter intake. How it can escape the clutches of my angelfish is another
question.

Pray tell, what manner of beast do I have lurking in the warm dark depths of
my canister filter??


Nikki

PS. I'm getting goose bumps just by thinking about it!

http://www.bugsurvey.nsw.gov.au/html...s_ma-ny-a.html

"Nikki Casali" wrote in message
...
Hi,

After 3 months, I finally cleaned out my Interpet external canister
filter.
I rinsed the sponges in aquarium water and replaced most of the filter
wool
expect for one tiny bit. I also raised the temperature a few degrees to
increase the fish's metabolism for a few days.

This morning I had a quick look at the filter for any leakages and to my
surprise, looking through the clear plastic canister, saw a foreign object
in the clean white filter wool. A closer inspection revealed what appeared
to be a large, semi-transparent, wingless house fly. What really freaked
me
out was that it was moving around!

The aquatic fly thing is about 3/4 of an inch in length with a fat body
and
a normal set of fly legs. Almost forgot to mention that it is not very
pretty!

The first question is how did such a large insect get in there? It would
need to pass the two layers of sponges and then through some of the dense
filter wool. I can only assume it was born there! What sort of fly thing
can
thrive in such an environment? Consider that I only cleaned the filter
last
night.

A few weeks ago, while vacuuming the gravel in a hard to reached location,
I
spotted a fly larva flexing its long thin body to escape. It was about an
inch in length. It suddenly disappeared and I thought that maybe it went
up
the filter intake. How it can escape the clutches of my angelfish is
another
question.

Pray tell, what manner of beast do I have lurking in the warm dark depths
of
my canister filter??


Nikki

PS. I'm getting goose bumps just by thinking about it!



After some research, I think I have a Mayfly Nymph in my filter. A Mayfly
egg or larva must have got sucked into the filter intake at some stage. They
can live a year in this aquatic stage and live on decaying matter or algae.
Mayflies only lay eggs in clean freshwater. It's got a sorry life in there.
I feel bad just taking it out and flushing it down the toilet. Maybe I can
find a stream somewhere for its new home.

Nikki