Something weird in RCS tank

bluebettalady · Post by **bluebettalady** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:30 pm

I was feeding my cherry red's tonight and I found this "thing" in my tank. Its about 3/4 inch long has 6 legs...its really skinny and has like a V shape tail. It swims be kinda squiggling thru the water. It appears to have a separate head from its body.
I use playsand mixed with some rock in my tank. I had some of these "things" in my ten gallon tank also (that had playsand) and all my fish died in there. The shrimp seem to be fine but does anyone have a clue what it might be?

PS~ it almost seems to have wings..I am trying to take a pic but my camera phone sucks

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:10 pm

At first, I'd think an insect larva of some sort. But if the "play sand" is really the causitive factor, it could be one of the crustacea which live in vernal pool-like habitats and produce resting cysts for dry survival (eg. brine/fairy shrimp). Species of "tadpole shrimp" are known to be very carnivorous and have a very distinct V-shape tail. When you say it's skinny, I suppose you could mean "flat"?

Where I live, I've never had experience or even seen these in person though, so I don't know what they move like or what they can be kept with.

Anyway, I should just put up some pictures for ID since these might not even be what you have.
http://images.google.com/images?q=%22ta ... rch+Images

bluebettalady · Post by **bluebettalady** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 1:48 pm

It's really super thing as in maybe the thickness of a pencil lead. When they are smaller they are almost clear...but this one is almost brown. I tried to make a picture of it but my camera phone sucks. The easist way I can explain it is imagine a pincher bug thats super thin...and brown. That really what it looks like...only under water. The strange thing is it doesnt seem to bother my snails...Just fish....

edinjapan · Post by **edinjapan** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 4:21 pm

bluebettalady wrote:It's really super thing as in maybe the thickness of a pencil lead. When they are smaller they are almost clear...but this one is almost brown. I tried to make a picture of it but my camera phone sucks. The easist way I can explain it is imagine a pincher bug thats super thin...and brown. That really what it looks like...only under water. The strange thing is it doesnt seem to bother my snails...Just fish....

Sounds like a species of dragonfly nymph.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 6:45 am

Yeah, back to my first thought, I guess. I use to accidentally pick up dragonfly larvae in my bucket while messing around at the pond as a kid. Those guys are creepy.