Shrimp tank critters

flash69x · Post by **flash69x** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:37 pm

So for a few months now i have had a shrimp only tank, well there are a few ottos but they don't count. Anyways, i noticed a few weeks ago that there were these little white round bugs swimming around. They swim around fairly fast and in and erratic pattern. Recently their population has exploded and I just wanted to make sure that these things aren't going to cause any problems. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

fugly · Post by **fugly** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 1:18 am

You have ostracods. They don't do any harm to fish or shrimp, but their population growth is a direct result of the food source (that is, how much food there is for them to feed on).

Urkevitz · Post by **Urkevitz** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:18 pm

Be glad you don't have planaria. I had them in my shrimp tank once and they were all over the place.

csmike · Post by **csmike** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:35 pm

I got both =( unfortunately. However, their populations are under control.

I wonder if anyone has any way to remove these buggers completely without tearing down the tank ... etc?

rclover · Post by **rclover** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:18 pm

I was wondering the as csmike, and do ostracods eat plants?

Shanna · Post by **Shanna** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:02 pm

I've never heard of this before. I have 2 shrimp (and snails) only tanks. How do you get these little bugs?....... so I can avoid it.

flash69x · Post by **flash69x** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:47 pm

well I'm not sure how I got them. I don't really don't put much food in there at all. I put a few shirmp pellets in there once a week so I know I am not over feeding. The only thing I see them eat are dead shrmp when they happen to die, and shrimp poo. I have no idea how I got them in there,they just showed up. Besides initial setup, the only thing that has been added is water and some food. They only showed up recently. I put a guppy in there for a few hours and he ate a lot of them.

rclover · Post by **rclover** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:57 pm

Was it a female or male guppy?

imisky · Post by **imisky** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:26 am

baby guppies fry tend to eat up alot of the planaria and ostracods as i used that for planaria control once....but it kind of went down the drain after a Kh spike.

ostracods does not eat plants instead they eat algae

as for the planaria problem, use some trumpet snails, as planarias live off of decaying stuff, such as dead leaves or poo from your shrimps.trumpet snails dig under the gravel so they can get to places you cant. also a cory will help with the situation of planaria

Shanna · Post by **Shanna** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:11 am

You mention corys and guppies to take care of this problem. Can I put corys or guppys in my shrimp tank, or will they eat the baby shrimp? I don't have these little bugs (but someday I may), but I do have a problem keeping the tank as clean as I would like.

imisky · Post by **imisky** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:56 am

guppy fry 1-3weeks old will be baby shrimp eating free...once there mouth gets big enough...thats another story. as far as i know cories will clean the gravel, but i dont have any problem with the smaller shrimps i have in there with my panda cory this is in a shrimp only tank

rclover · Post by **rclover** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:46 am

guppys and corys can go along with shrimp, no harm. Can I use feeder guppys?

imisky · Post by **imisky** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:04 pm

adult guppies will eat baby shrimps......i suggest only use new borns for the planaria control...or some trumpet snails to get rid of the enviroment that planarias like

rclover · Post by **rclover** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:33 pm

Anything else that is shrimp and plant safe that eats ostracods?

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:30 pm

Why don't you guys like ostracods? Cypris are just cute little wandering specks