Ostracod Anomaly - 08/05/2005 Hey, thanks for a great and informative site. <Glad you enjoy it!> I just have a problem with Ostracods in my tank, they just appeared out of no where and it doesn't seem like there's a solution to this problem. <I recall when I was quite young, I had a small tank with renegade snails, and had the same problem.> Is there a way to get rid of these with out harming my plants and shrimps? <Reduce their food source - vacuum substrate heavily to get decaying materials out, feed significantly less, remove dead plant leaves if any, and perhaps try to find a fish that will make a meal out of 'em.  I've used Gourami to control aphid populations on floating plants; possibly dwarf or pygmy Gourami would consider Ostracods edible....?> Thanks, John <Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Ostracod Anomaly - II - 08/07/2005 I actually don't know what is causing it, its not the food source, I only feed my shrimps a little 2 times a week. Thanks. <I wonder if perhaps they are feeding on plants or decaying plant material, or possibly algae....  Again, it might be worthwhile to employ a small predatory fish in this system and see if that controls the population.  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Re: Ostracods? Dear Bob: <BD> Thanks for your reply. I am hoping to experience first hand the effects of bioluminescence from Ostracods <Mmm, I recently saw a citation re just this...> - preferably dried. Would your kit labeled "Ostracods 100+ organisms" be the best bet? I realize these are living organisms? <I think so and yes> Are there any problems with customs when shipping to Canada? How long is lead time and delivery? <I'd ask the folks sending...> Thanks, Blake P.S. I assume this is your company? <Mmm, nope... we don't sell anything... but maybe the books we produce. Bob Fenner>

"Bugs" in fresh water aquarium   2/3/07 I recently added an African Dwarf Frog to my aquarium. Unfortunately it died 2 days later. I also have a snail and 3 red minor tetras. About a week after the frog died I noticed these "bugs" in the tank, they are all over, probably a few hundred. They are about half the size of a pin head. They like to attach to my snail. they form a mucus puff under the snail foot and seem to be under the foot inside the shell. The fish store had no clue what they are and sold me some medication for parasites and it did nothing. <Mmm, not parasites... very likely some species of crustaceans... can/do "come in" with other life...> I had a co worker in our Lab look at them under a microscope. They look flea like but have a shell like a beetle with brown/black and white stripes. <Neat... maybe a Cladoceran... Ostracod> They move fast and multiply quickly. I added salt to the aquarium the other night and it did seem to knock them out a bit, but I would like to totally get rid of them. Any clue as to what I have? We are all stumped. <See the above term in your search tools... Many possibilities, but highly likely these are not dangerous... and will "pass" on their own... with the unfolding (evolution) of this system... time going by. Bob Fenner>

Crazily mis- over-stocked FW sys.... w/ induced prob.s... Crazy! Oh, and HH ID    7/23/09 Hello <Howsit?> I was wondering if you could help me out with my Freshwater tank problem. <Am trying> I have a 90 Gallon tank. which is home to 3 Aruwans, 3 Oscars, 2 Silver dollars, 1 clown knife fish and a Giant Pink Gaurami. <Yeeikes! Way too crowded... and only going to get worse... All this, these animals won't live well or long in this small volume> The tank has 1 External Filter , and two submerged filters, 2 air supply pumps. Gravel Substrate and two tank ornaments. The water temperature is at a steady 78 deg and changed 25% every two weeks. <I'd change this amount weekly> About a week ago I've noticed a lot of tiny white bubble like creatures in the tank, very similar to tiny fish eggs. Now they seem to be moving around the tank and sometimes cling on to my Oscars. Yesterday my clown knife fish died unexpectedly ( No symptoms of being sick or hurt). <Stress alone...> These white creatures are now all over the gravel and some on the sides of my tank as well.(Photo attached) can any one tell me 1).What are they? 2) How can i get rid of them? <Small crustaceans of some sort... Perhaps Cladocerans... not harmful... Best to "be rid of them" by simple vacuuming, cleaning of the gravel... BUT, you need NOW to move, separate the life you list... READ re the needs of these species. They can't all live in a ninety. Bob Fenner> Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Vishwas

Re: mis- over-stocked FW induced prob.s   07/23/09 Hello Thank you Bob Fenner for your advice I will try it. <Ah, good> Hopefully I will be able to write back "problem solved" Also I have just setup another tank so will be moving the Oscars out soon. Thank you once again. Vishwas Shetty <Welcome my friend. BobF>

There is something living in my Betta's tank  8/4/07 I have a Betta (over a year old). When doing a partial water change a few weeks ago I noticed very small black specks floating on the surface. Last night when feed my Betta I saw these little specks moving about on his rock and on the gravel below. There must be hundreds of them. I removed the Betta from his tank as a precaution. The local fish store doesn't know what these specks are. The fish seems fine, just a little irritated at getting moved out of his home. The tank has gravel, a plastic rock to hide in and a plant that grew from a bulb. Any ideas as to who the new neighbors are and should I be concerned about them? Thank you for you help. <Mmm, well... could be a number of types of life... worms, crustaceans of sorts... but not likely deleterious/harmful. A photo (micro) graph or loupe examination will likely get you to the phyla level in ID. You could bleach/destroy these (see WWM re), but I would likely ignore them. Bob Fenner>

Re: There is something living in my Betta's tank  8/5/07 Hi, <Hello again> Thanks for getting back to me. This morning I had to take our 4 legged pet to our vet, and while I was there I asked if she could put one of the little critters under a microscope and see what these specks looked like. She had not seen them before but they appear to be an oval crustacean. A first, it was just a brown/tan oval covered with hairs/cilia. When we continued to look, it would open up very quickly like a bi-valve or clam. <Ah, very likely an Ostracod... aka seed shrimp... See Google images re> Maybe it uses this action for movement, like a scallop?? We came to a similar conclusion as you, that it was harmless. Perhaps they have been in the tank along time, but with the warmer temps, their population exploded and they became obvious. Meanwhile, "Cosmo Bubbles Wong" has been returned to his freshly cleaned tank, and is once again happy. Thank you for your help, You know us fish mom's, we worry over everything. Susan <A pleasure to assist you. Bob Fenner>

Re: There is something living in my Betta's tank  8/6/07 Yep, it's an Ostracod! Fascinating little creatures. Thanks again. <Ahh! What a planet eh? Thank you! BobF>

Need some direction (FW, possible unwanted cladoceran) 2/25/09 Neale? <Yes...?> I'm perplexed and need some direction and encouragement. I have a 20 gallon FW tank stocked w/ a dwarf Pleco and 10 glass fish. All but one of the glass fish was just added a couple weeks ago. Current water parameters are: 78 degrees, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and ~ 20 nitrate (I know. more frequent water changes) and above 7.8 ph due to municipal water supply. <Sounds good.> All was good until I noticed during a water change last week that small white specks would enter my gravel vacuum during vacuuming. They purposely returned to the gravel. I initially thought they were just non-living specks from who knows where, but then looked more closely and they appeared to be swimming freely in the water - darting here and there, really. If they were located on the fins of my stock, I'd definitely treat for ich. But they aren't. Interestingly enough, I noticed this only one day after adding frozen brine shrimp to vary the glass fish diet. All the fish appeared fine, so I dismissed it (.mistake). <Harmless. Have them in some of my tanks.> NOW they are taking over the tank - there have to be thousands of them. Again, they are free floating. NOT on the inside of the glass. From your site, I'm assuming they are cladoceran (aka water fleas). If so, Bob Jenner says they will run their course in time. But the glass fish are absolutely miserable with them, as they cannot relax and just hang out. They dart all over, nipping at one another constantly. Another interesting development is that my Pleco is out of his cave during the day more in the last week than I ever remember him - very odd. And when looking closely at the fish tonight, it appears that the white specks are now attaching themselves to the glass fish, mostly at the tips of the top/lower fins. So I started treating w/ ICH tonight w/ a two-day course just in case. <If they are crustaceans, then any copper-based medication should kill them. On the other hand, blooms of them aren't common in aquaria, and suggestive of a deeper problem. To multiply, they need food. This may be algae if you have a lot of light (including sunlight) but not enough live plants. It might also be faeces and uneaten food. If the tank doesn't have adequate mechanical filtration (essentially, current + rinsable media) then organic wastes will accumulate in the gravel, and that in turn will feed these "pests". Get rid of the food source, and their populations will quickly drop.> Does my explanation of them coincide w/ cladoceran or anything else you know? If so, how can I nip them in the bud? The LFS wasn't familiar with anything I was describing, nor had a microscope to look at my water sample, but thought maybe adding some stock that will eat on them could help control things. They suggested molly or tiger barbs. I'd hate to add anything at this point until I figure out what the heck is going on. Thoughts on their recommendation? <If this was really tiresome, and given the tank is fairly small, I'd perhaps recommend a "reboot". In other words, put the fish and some water in a bucket. Stick or connect the filter to the bucket, so that it is running. Remove everything else from the tank. Deep clean the gravel with lots of hot water, or else throw out and add new gravel. Put the tank together again. Acclimate fish to new water conditions just as you would if you'd bought them, but don't directly add any old water to the tank. Reconnect the heater, filter, etc. Sit back, knowing a job well done. All else being equal, you'll be starting from a normal baseline except that the filter is 100% mature. Any "pests" that get in there will have to go through you now, so review any plants or live foods, and take care to keep on top of hygiene. Clean the gravel, remove uneaten food, etc.> HELP!!! I want to glass fish to relax. they are getting really stressed out. THANKS as always. Gosh - how could I do this without you all at WetWeb?! Kristi <Well, I hope this helps, and thanks for the kind words. Cheers, Neale.>