# tiny lice like bugs



## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

I've seen these little thing in my girlfriend's eclipse, too. I wonder what they are.


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

Do they scuttle and leap over the surface of the water?


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

There was a thread earlier that had a little pic and we identified them as cyclops. They are harmless and make a great food for small fry.
-Aphyosemion


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## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

the ones I've seen (if we are talking about the same critter) are very tiny and almost look like tiny clasping shellfish, like limpets. they slide across the glass very slowly. Haven't seen them jump off around the tank.


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## Oqsy (Jul 3, 2004)

i've recently spotted some little dudes skipping aross the surface of my mbuna tank. they look like fleas hopping around, and look like they are somewhere from white to tan in color. i'm surprised that my fish haven't devoured them yet, but perhaps they can't see them looking straight up into the lights.

Oqsy


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

motifone said:


> the ones I've seen (if we are talking about the same critter) are very tiny and almost look like tiny clasping shellfish, like limpets. they slide across the glass very slowly. Haven't seen them jump off around the tank.


They might indeed be freshwater limpets - can you post an image?


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

Oqsy said:


> i've recently spotted some little dudes skipping aross the surface of my mbuna tank. they look like fleas hopping around, and look like they are somewhere from white to tan in color. i'm surprised that my fish haven't devoured them yet, but perhaps they can't see them looking straight up into the lights.
> 
> Oqsy


Those are springtails.


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## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

i'll try to get a pic at some point. they are on my girlfriend's fishtank. they are also quite tiny and I'm not sure what kind of a shot I could get of them, even with macro. They started showing up in her tank when I gave her some water sprite from tank, but I don't see any of the critters in my aquarium. And I hope I don't because they would be a royal pain when cleaning my acrylic and trying not to scratch it.

they do look like the limpets on this page:

http://www.usask.ca/biology/skabugs/molluscs/mollus.html


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

*top water skippers*

I have those things too, they hop around the top of my tank. Looks like they have a lot of fun jumping along the currents of my filter. What are they?


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

I have the little guys that hop around the surface of the water, too. They like to hang out on surface plants if you have any. I also have cyclops, nematodes, and limpits. I never see the limpits move though. They are like flat snails and they mostly just sit there and they are pretty small. The only reason I am even aware of most of these little critters is because they do really well in my 1 gallon tanks where I usually don't keep fish, but just shrimp. At any particular time I can see little critters hopping, skipping, crawling, and slowly worming their way around my little tanks. It would be more interesting if they were a little bigger so I didn't have to look so closely to see them.
-Aphyosemion


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

*cyclops/limplets...*

Thanks Aphosy... you mentioned that those cyclops make good fry food, so I put a newly born guppy fry into my shrimp tanks and they pretty much chase em down and gobble em up. They keep those little buggers in control and when the fry gets a week or two old, ill replace them cause i dont want them to eat up my baby shrimps... But I also have lots of Limplets in my tank, how do I go about getting rid of these limplet guys?


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

Samosette said:


> But I also have lots of Limplets in my tank, how do I go about getting rid of these limplet guys?


If they're not explicitly detrimental, I would keep them.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Or, using a credit card (Visa or Mastercard (c)) you could smear them limpets to anihilation. If those are the limpets that I am familiar with... the ones sitting on the glass and minding their own business.


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

yeup, those are the ones. They look like small ear like suction cups. They dont move(movement not noticeable,guess less you look really hard for a long time) and sometimes i smush them up against the glass. The SAE seem to like the smashed up parts but in my other tanks I only have shrimps. Will the smashing method make a harmful load from the dead floating around.. sometimes i can smash like 10-20 in 30 seconds. Then I see them the next day.. ARggghh!


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

I took all of my ghost shrimp out of my 1 gallon tank in order to put a pregnant green shrimp in there. That left 1 shrimp instead of 16 in my tank and it didn't seem to be eating any of those little critters. Then I put a mesh screen on my little mini filter to keep the baby shrimp from being sucked up. Then, like a day later I noticed a lot of debris floating around in my tank, so I looked closely. There was a CLOUD of little critters floating, skipping, crawling, and swimming in my one gallon tank. I mean there are a TON of those guys!!! If I had any tiny fry that tank would be a great place for them right now.
-Aphyosemion


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