# Weird tiny creatures in my Oscar tank, wtf?



## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

For the past month I've been battling with my Oscar's tank, the water started turning murky and this brown gunk basically took over, it was on the walls, the decor, the filter, you name it. So after doing regular 30% water changes and cleaning the filters to no avail, I finally gave up and decided to do a complete teardown, now this is where the strange creatures come in.

I noticed that there are hundreds of very tiny (a milimeter long or less) shrimps, or at least they look like shrimp, they are white/transparent, what are they? how did they get there and could thy be the reason why my tank got screwed up?? I tried searching and found nothing, I thought they might be planarias but they don't look like worms to me.

This is the best picture I could take, they are so tiny it's almost impossible, you can see they're shaped like a shrimp and have tiny legs, and also what appears to be eyes:










Thanks.


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## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

I'm guessing they're planaria. Usually the result of uneaten food left in the tank too long.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Thats not planaria.....Sea Monkeys???haha
I have no idea


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Maybe some type of fish lice.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

They sure look like fish lice, are they any one your fish?
in gills?


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Damn never knew it existed!
Guess thats a good thing.
GOod luck
How do you remedy it?


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Google Ostracoda and Copepods. Click on the images link on top of google and let us know if they look like either of those.

I cant tell what is in your pic. It might help if you put them on something black or white so we can see the little bugs better.


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

maknwar said:


> Damn never knew it existed!
> Guess thats a good thing.
> GOod luck
> How do you remedy it?


 I took the tank appart, the only thing left to do is take out all the sand, there are hundreds of these tiny suckers in the puddles left in the sand.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_shrimp

how about these?


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2009)

Did you get your rocks from your Lake or river? They look like the same little shrimps that are found under the rocks in my Lake.


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

maknwar said:


> Did you get your rocks from your Lake or river? They look like the same little shrimps that are found under the rocks in my Lake.


I think I got them from a local nursery, but it was at least 4 years ago, however, in the article posted by maknwar says that eggs can hatch months or even years after being laid, so who knows.

Thanks for the info guys, whatever thiese little creatures are, they are coming out of my tank tomorow! Which brings me to another question, what method would you recomend for cleaning the inside of the tank? it has some dry algae, calcium deposits and stuff like that, I was thinking about using just water and vinegar.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Hot water bath and Vin will work well....


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

So they were fairy shrimp?
Thats damn interesting!
I didn't know they could hatch years later!

Are they harmful? 
If not why remove them just for the aesthetics?


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

looks like scuds to me. They're a type of freshwater crustaceans and you can buy them as feeders from aquabid.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

Planaria seems to Infest in the Millions , or atleast appears that way , You wanna know how I got Rid of all the Snails in my Tank ?
Probably not conventional , but let me tell You How Bleach Works Wonders heheh.


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## Blue Flame (Jan 16, 2006)

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> Maybe some type of fish lice.


That's the call I would have made. Meds are in order!


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