Can Bug Bites Cause Bugs In Your Tank?

Omg...so my son has a 15 gallon tank in his room. It has a lobster, 2small fish and a small green terror. We were told the lobster only eats bug bites. Today, we bought a little candy toed frog. Put him in. Tonight, we looked, the tank looked like it had all little white things floating in it and on the glass, thousands! And the ones on the glass were moving!!!! We gutted the whole thing. Water, gravel, filter, EVERYTHING! He was def over feeding, but could that have been from the bug bites? I've never seen that before ever!!! Soooooo grossed out!!

 

I've never used it before, but it is dried larvae, were the things floating actually alive? Also what do you plan on doing with the green terror? It's going to get fairly large and require a tank of 50+ gallons, I always recommend putting fish in the size tank they'll need when they are full grown, you'll encounter far less issues that way. Another thing, when you say you gutted everything, including gravel and filter, do you mean you threw it away or very thoroughly cleaned it? If so, that probably killed all the beneficial bacteria.

 

Yes!! They were totally alive!!!! I'm still freaked out! The ones on the glass looked like they were moving!! I thoroughly cleaned it, did not throw away the rocks. I'm sure I killed the good bacteria, but fingers crossed everyone survives! But I had no choice! The green terror is going into our 75 gallon tank. He was put in the 15 gallon temporarily cuz he was being super aggressive. I literally put him in a timeout lol. He's small still.

 

I would definitely research a fish-in cycle, do daily water changes, and use prime water conditioner, it's not really right to just leave the fish in potentially toxic water conditions and hope they survive, and it's probably best to put the green terror in the 75 now, if he's being aggressive there, I can't imagine how aggressive he's gonna become in a tank of only 15 gallons, and its best to allow him to establish his "place" while he's still small. I'm not sure what the cause of the bugs were, but if you're thinking it was that particular food, I was suggest not using it any longer, are the bugs now gone? I honestly think you're best off to move the inhabitants to the 75 for now as you re-cycle the 15 gallon tank, what's kept in the 75, you could even section part of it off temporarily to keep the fish from the 15 in, that's still more ideal than keeping them in a cycling tank.

 

The Bug Bites should have no viable 'bug eggs' in them if that's what you're thinking, but if you overfeed that can provide food for small organisms that will breed rapidly in the tank. Most are completely harmless. What isn't harmless is the pollution in the tank can cause changes in water chemistry that can harm your fish and inverts.

 

They could be a type of worm. I had a blow up of small white dots all through my two aquariums, and they slowly turned into little worms that swim in the aquarium. I've done whole tank tear downs to no avail, I still see worms here and there but at least the white dots aren't moving all over my glass any longer. If it's what I have in my tank, I don't think it's harmful. My fish eats the ones that are big enough for him to see.

 

I used the primer and water conditioner, I wouldn't let them go back in a tank that could kill them! That's why at 11 last night my 13 year old son and I were like crazy ppl trying to save them! Lol... I'm going to try to put the terror back in the 75. I can't put the other fish in it, its all cichlids. And a huge Oscar. We tried to put the frog and Oscar tried to eat it.

They could be a type of worm. I had a blow up of small white dots all through my two aquariums, and they slowly turned into little worms that swim in the aquarium. I've done whole tank tear downs to no avail, I still see worms here and there but at least the white dots aren't moving all over my glass any longer. If it's what I have in my tank, I don't think it's harmful. My fish eats the ones that are big enough for him to see.

Ewwwwww!!!!! Lol that's EXACTLY what have!! Why does that happen?!!

 

The Bug Bites should have no viable 'bug eggs' in them if that's what you're thinking, but if you overfeed that can provide food for small organisms that will breed rapidly in the tank. Most are completely harmless. What isn't harmless is the pollution in the tank can cause changes in water chemistry that can harm your fish and inverts.

That's why.

 

I feed bug bites to my fish as a treat (6 tanks) and never had any worms from that.

I did have worms one time in my guppy tank due to over feeding.

 

Sounds like planaria or similar.