Annabelle

I was re-planting some of my plants and just generally tidying my tank yesterday when I found a very strange little creature. It is completely see through and only about as long as my thumb nail. The picture is the closest thing I could get to what it looks like:

damselfly nymph.bmp

I wasnt sure what the little thing was or if it would pose a threat to my fishies so I put it in my now fishless QT. It spends most of its time hiding in the plants and rocks which is why I wouldnt have spotted it before. If anyone has ne ideas I'd love to hear them.

Shawnie

im guessing...ghost shrimp?

Butterfly

Thats what it looks like to me too. have you added plants or fish lately? If so looks like you had a cool hitch hiker
Carol

Annabelle

I added fish a couple of weeks ago but thats about it. The little guy has been hiding tho so its entirely possible that he hitched on my last lot of plants ages ago and I just havent seen him till now. I dont usually mess with the tank decorations. I only had to this time cause one of my plants was almost fully outta the substrate and I had to put it back. On the assumption that it is a ghost shrimp, what do they eat?

Butterfly

Ghost shrimp mostly eat what drops to the bottom of the tank, algae and just bits of this and that
carol

Alessa

that's definately a ghost shrimp. Congrats on having a cool uninvited guest! these shrimp are awesome! they will hide most of the time but will come out to roam the bottom of your tank to search for leftovers. he is completely safe to leave in your community tank as long as there isnt any fish that would look at him as food... they are awesome little creatures!

COBettaCouple

You could put him back in and every so often, stick a wafer or piece of a wafer in one of his hiding spots. Some Java Moss would be something he'd like as well.

Barbrella

Can you get a picture of the actual creature? It could be a shrimp, or it could be an insect larva.

sirdarksol

Any way that amphibious insects would have access to your tank?

Also, does it seem to walk on its legs, or do they stick out to the side more, used to "row" with? Shrimp walk, and swim by using their tails. Insect larvae use their legs to swim more than walk.

Annabelle

The tank is hooded and inside so the chances of an insect getting access to my tank is limited and we dont have ne ponds or water bodies in the yard to attract them. Insect larvae could have just as easily hitched from the shop as ne other critter tho. I cant get a pic of him cause I just havent seen him. I put him in the QT and he disappeared and I havent seen him since. He swims pretty fast but by the time I saw him up close he was in my hand and was more or less flailing with his legs. I know he is insanely quick tho.

Alessa

Most likely a ghost shrimp... is that thing one inch? 2 inches?

rileyrk190

It could also be a dragon fly larva. They have the tree things on the end of their tail, and they are free swimming. Then they crawl out one day and dry for a few hours, and molt into a dragon fly. I dont know how you got one in your tank..but i see them all the time at my camp, and thats what the picture looks like

rileyrk190

its quite possible, that you haven't seen him, because if they don't have a surface to crawl out on when they get big enough, they will die.

rileyrk190

any updates about your little guy?

rileyrk190

whoa, ghost shrimp look a lot like dragon fly larvae..i just googled it. I hope it is a ghost shrimp..they look very cool!

Lucy

They are. I had a few, but lost them to high nitrates, I think.

joy613

If it is a dragonfly nymph you need to get it out of your tank, they are predators and they can live up to 4 years in the nymph stage. They will hitchhike on plants on another forum someone had some in their tank and had no idea where they came from. It took him a while to get them out. The picture you showed looks a lot like a dragonfly nymph to me.

Alessa

yeah, I know...

here are the two examples:

1) Dragonfly nymph
http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrat...elflyNymph.jpg

2) Ghost shrimp:
http://i.pbase.com/u33/accr122/uploa...31.shrimp1.jpg

does it look more like 1 or 2 ?

Now that I think about it it does look like a nymph... I would take it out!

dking271

This morning while doing maintenance on one of my tanks I found one in my tank. I was using my Python with the 24" gravel vac, I picked up what I thought was debris, but then I saw it violently swimming back down the tube against the current. I got a good look at it, but was afraid of it escaping back into the tank, so I watched him go down the drain. This was no Ghost shrimp. It looked like a Damselfly nymph, legs out the side, definate predator head, about 3/8" in length. How could something like this get in my tank? It is completely covered? Now I'm worried there might be more of these evil things. Tank consists of Angels, Rams, Cory's, Clown Pleco, pair of Pearl Gourami's (temporarily housed), 2 Otos (3rd mysteriously died yesterday). Could this thing have killed my Oto, could it hurt my other fish?

Alessa

otos are quite sensitive, but i think it is definately a possibility.

dking271

I know Otos are sensative, but this tank houses a pair of my German Blue Rams, so it receives a little extra attention. My Rams were protecting eggs, so I thought they may have gone after it, but now I'm not sure. I found the nymph around/under a piece of driftwood were the Otos often hang out. It was fine all day, fat tummy and all. I know these thing are nasty and will suck the blood of fish. I'm just surprised this thing managed to evade my Angels, because I'm sure they would have gobbled it up in a heatbeat. I'm really hoping that was the only one.

Annabelle

Im thinking it might be a nymph of sorts which is why I took it out and put it in my fishless QT. The problem is that I picked up my panda cory on friday and ended up with another betta (I cant help myself) and I had to put them into the QT. I still havent seen the creature so it could very easily either be good at hiding or dead. I need to do a water change so should I take out all the decorations and have a really good look for this thing and try to remove it or just wait and see? If I have to I can take out all the water, put it in buckets and the put everything back in including most of the water after I find it.

dking271

I would do whatever you have to do to get that thing out of the tank. I did a heavy cleaning yesterday on my main tank and found 3 more of the little buggers. That brings me to a total of four (all between 1/4" - 3/8" in size). My research indicates that these things can live for a year + in your tank before they exit to become an adult.

Annabelle

Yikes, looks like I may be dismantling my tank then. Its a shame I have to have fish in it right now cause it would be kinda cool to raise this thing.

Austin {Aquarist}

I have studied macroinvertebrates as bioindicators for a long time and that is most definitely a mayfly larva soon it will crawl out of the tank and change into a mayfly. U ussually find them in fast moving streams and I am very suprised it has survived because they prefer very cold water. They are a very tolerant species though meaning they can adjust well to change

That is REALLY cool that you found one in your fish tank xD

rubberneck

that is cool to find and i wouldnt worry about it http://www.life.uiuc.edu/ib/109/Inse...ng/Mayfly.html

dking271

As an avid fly fisherman, I am very familiar with a Mayfly nymph, and mine were definately Damselfly nymphs. I got two more out of my tank this evening, which brings me to a total of six. They have grown in size to about 1/2 inch. So far, I haven't seen any in my three other tanks.