# Egg photo and question



## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

I just snapped a photo of these eggs and have noticed little worms around the eggs. They are visible in the photo. Any suggestions as to what they are? Should I be concerned?

D. azureus eggs by Fool2Think, on Flickr


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

From my experience, they seem to feed on eggs gone bad but leave good eggs alone. I do move good eggs away from them if they get to be too plentiful for comfort, though. 

So, in other words, I really have no clue


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## devder1 (Oct 2, 2010)

LOOK LIKE Planaria to me, harmless aquatic worm, sorry for the caps


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Do these eggs look good? They are a few days old now. They were laid on the 23rd and I removed them on the 24th. The photo was shot about an hour ago. I am assuming they are good.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

From watching my own eggs, seems like the worms would have penetrated the jelly by now if the eggs had gone bad.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

The eggs look good so far. The worms are most likely Nematodes, which are harmless. They are basically "clean up" crew. The eat waste and decomposing material. They show up eventually in pretty much every tank. If they show up in HUGE numbers, it is a good indication that something is out of balance in your ecosystem. It shows that you may be overfeeding, or your soil is breaking down, or maybe you just need to get some springtails and isopods to share the workload. 
Just curious...whatcha breeding?
Doug


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Thank you for the info...They are azureus eggs.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

They look good to me (the one on the left is exhibiting the polarity that you would want to see at this age..Two or three days more and you'll see definite bars across the eggs that are the developing embryos).

If you don't like the nematodes or other fungi that can develop, you can order some methylene blue to add to the water in the dish. This helps keep everything clean.

Good luck with them! Richard.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

good "tad tea" is another option instead of the methylene blue.

the worms are fine, nothing to worry about.

james


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

I have meth blue and blackwater extract. I have never used them for my eggs in the past and they were all fine. It's good to know I can use it to help keep the eggs "good", I really didn't know why I had it.
These aren't my eggs, I'm helping a friend who had the 2 previous clutches go bad.
I'll post more photos as they develop.


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Here they are at Day 9:

D. azureus eggs @ Day 9 by Fool2Think, on Flickr


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Nice shot!


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## LindseyJoe (Feb 17, 2009)

inflight said:


> I just snapped a photo of these eggs and have noticed little worms around the eggs. They are visible in the photo. Any suggestions as to what they are? Should I be concerned?
> 
> D. azureus eggs by Fool2Think, on Flickr


I have seen those "worms" on most of the eggs I have pulled from my tanks...but nothing has happened to my eggs just because they are in the dish with them.


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## alex111683 (Sep 11, 2010)

inflight said:


> Here they are at Day 9:
> 
> D. azureus eggs @ Day 9 by Fool2Think, on Flickr


What combo are you using to get these awesome shots?


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Thanks for the info Lindsey.
Alex, I am using a Nikon D5000. Shot at 55mm with 4x macro filters. 

Here they are at Day 12:

D. azureus eggs by Fool2Think, on Flickr


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## Suzanne (Dec 28, 2008)

They look a little 'bloated' to me. Or are they supposed to have such round translucent bellies?


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

You know, I thought they looked kind of odd too. I will take a close look at them again when I get home.


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

They look pretty good to me. The yolk sacks (bellies) should shrink pretty quickly over the next week. What is the temperature of the room where you are keeping them? Cooler temps (less than 70F) will cause them to develop more slowly (and cause no ill affects within reason). At 70-75F my azureus eggs fully develop in about 3 weeks. For 12 days, yours look like they're about at the halfway point. Higher temps cause them to develop more quickly, but there is significant evidence that this contributes to higher incidence of spindly leg syndrome (SLS).


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Yes, my temps are not that high. They hover around 68-70 degrees. I expected them to be a little slower because of that. I'm used to raising thumbnails and don't get to see the eggs develop as well as these larger ones. Thanks for the reassurance that everything is how it is suppose to be.


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## inflight (Jun 12, 2007)

Day 15:


D. azureus eggs by Fool2Think, on Flickr


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