Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I see various tiny things living in my shrimp tank.
1st thing is tiny white worms on the glass, I'm assuming microworms? They even glide in the water
2nd thing is also on the glass, it looks like a white speck but at close examination, its like a white super tiny bug which is crawling in the glass, its moving direction is very spuradic
3nd thing is a tiny little waterbug like thing. about 1mm in diameter and it swims about 3-4cm up and starts sinking. It is circular with a thing on top which splits out like an umbrella. It seems like it uses that "umbrella" thing so swim and to slowly sink so I'm guessing filter feeder?
I'm assuming none of these things are harmful to the shrimp right?
Will the shrimp eat any of them? If the shrimp can use them as additional source of food, then I'll leave them be, but otherwise what can I do to get rid of them? Am I just feeding too much?

ming wrote:2nd thing is also on the glass, it looks like a white speck but at close examination, its like a white super tiny bug which is crawling in the glass, its moving direction is very spuradic

I've got what sounds like the same thing in my tank. I'm thinking cyclops. Does that look like what you've got? Can you check them out with a magnifier?

I've also seen the little worms, but only once and never again since.

I've never seen these guys in a tank with fish, so I think that fish would see them as a food source. But since I usually see them on the glass, it's likely the shrimp can't even get to them (unless one happens to swim down where the shrimp are).

Worms could be nematodes which will proliferate if there's too much leftover food, or planaria (ditto) but planaria move more like snail/slugs and you seldom see them swimming freely, they're usually oozing along some surface. Neither will hurt shrimp but it is indicative of too much food which could mess up the tank balance. The other little bugs are various plankton/copepods. Also harmless to shrimp and may become shrimp food and their offspring may feed baby shrimps. Just various water critters that like the same environment as shrimp.

I have similar little critters in my tanks. I have the little tiny bugs that look like daphnia, except way smaller. I also ended up with some sort of aquatic worm in my 75 gallon before I sterilized it. They looked just like tiny earthworms, but were about a half inch long and lived in the substrate. When I was cleaning it, I kept finding more and more of them as I rinsed my gravel off. I tried to save some to reseed my new tank, but I didn't get it up very soon and I think they all died. Personally, I think any additional life in my tanks that doesn't harm anything is a welcome addition, especially if it can end up supplementing my fishes or shrimps diet.
-Aphyosemion

There has been a huge reduction in those micro-organisms since my cherry had babies
I counted 16 baby cherries hanging on the walls, its too hard to see when they're elsewhere hiding
I'm thinking I should try to feed the organisms

If you're feeding the shrimp, they're also probably feeding the organisms--they will feed off the food particles and plant particles floating in the water and also bacteria (from the shrimp and other places).

Does anyone have any pictures of newly born baby shrimp?

Which shrimp are you talking about? The shrimp that don't go through a larval stage look exactly like grown shrimp except tiny (3mm or so); you'd probably not be able to tell a baby from an adult without having an adult in the pic to compare against.