# new viv intruder.



## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

these look like young springtails but they crawl on the glass under the waterline. they are white and about 1/3-1/2mm. they do not seem to swim rather just crawl around on the glass. i can see them with a naked eye. they are not worms and have just appeared. strangely they seem to inhabit only the area of standing water (the water feature) rather than in the substrate (pea gravel also under the waterline)

any ideas??? and no way for me to photograph these guys they are tiny!

there are likely some mites from the spring culture in there but i don't know if mite larva live underwater.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

i don't think they are mites. mites like it super dry and their larvae do not move, but just develop on a dry surface. the white mites like you are talking about don't like wetness like the spider mites (red ones) do. 

im not sure what they are though, do they move fast? have lets, swim? or just crawl? most likely the are harmless. i have little critters living in all my tanks with water pools.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

no swimming just crawling on the glass.
and i had no idea about the mites, thanks for the info.
the frogs seem fine and completely unbothered by them.
i still like to know whats in my tanks.

james


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## ofblong (Sep 11, 2008)

baby snails???


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

they could be large springtails. i have notices springtails in most of my newt cages when the water is not cleaned regularly. not because the water is dirty though, things just get a chance to establish themselves...

do they jump when you blow on them? sprigs will spring and jump on the surface of the water until they find a resting point on the glass or other dryer surface.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

too fast to be snails, plus i culture them for my puffers and i know what little snails look like so its not snails. and they are too small to be full grown springtails. and they are below the waterline. if they get too far towards dry land they scurry back down into depper water. but the water isnt moving in that tank at the moment. the pump is clogged and i like to put my hands in the vivs as little as possible so i'm waiting a few weeks to dig up the pump and replace the defective parts. the tank with good ciculation doesnt seem to have these little creatures so its probable that it has something to do with poor water circulation.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

that sounds right to me. poor water circulation doesn't necessarily mean bad water quality though, if theres living plants in there i wouldn't worry about it.


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## CHuempfner (Apr 27, 2008)

Well, if they dont have legs, maybe mosquito larvae?? Or it could just be some isopod you got from your plants or soil. They would probably make good froggy food if the frogs could get to them!


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

yeah, but mosquitoe larvae don't venture at all onto land.


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

swamp thang


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## IN2DEEP (Aug 7, 2007)

I think you are describing the same things in my tank. Check out this post.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/28250-i-think-they-eatting-leches.html


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

daphnia.... what a lucky puffer


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

ok so, they arent mosquito larvae, which stay close to the top of the water and kind of squiggle (best thing i can think to describe it) around. plus these are TINY and i mean TINY 1/3 of one MM or so. 
i dont know if they are the same thing as in your tank IN2DEEP but they are most definately not 1/16". not even close.

im not sure what you meant "daphnia.... what a lucky puffer" but i do feed daphnia to my dwarf puffer to supplement its diet, and they are much much larger. i assume that the lucky puffer part was about the snails. and yes they LOVE them. i have to culture them because i have planted aquaria and they would destroy the more delicate species. as well as i like to moniter their diet and the dwarf requires very small snails.

now there are some gnats in the tank could it be some kind of gnat larvae??? i dont know anything about these but again these are crawling on the glass not aimlessly floating around like mosquito larvae etc.


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