# New bugs



## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

I found these tiny bugs today....can you ID them for me and tell me whether I should try to eradicate them? I am a live and let live person unless a bug is a threat to my plants.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

They look like scale to me. Not a good thing to have. The frogs probably won't eat them because they don't move enough so that the frogs can see them, but they will eat the hell out of your plants.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Not fun


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

hmm....I didn't think they looked like scale - they're quite rounded. They could be some sort of wood scale I suppose. It only seems to be affecting this one fairly woody plant so that makes sense.
I'll have to pull one off and get it under the microscope tomorrow and try to confirm.

good news though - it's a plant-only tank so I've got some options (I've got NEEM oil and I've got a really big CO2 tank)


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

well, you were absolutely correct!
I pulled one of the brown things off that I thought was a beetle, and threw it under the microscope. It was a scale capsule alright - and loaded with eggs and active crawlers!

I snapped a few photos at 40x (digital microscopes are nifty) if anyone wants to see these bad little bugs I can post the pics.


tank is full of CO2 for the night - I'll pull off another capsule tomorrow and see if any crawlers are still alive before deciding my next move.


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## spawn (Jan 2, 2007)

Yes, please post the pics.


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

well, the pic at the top of the thread is of course in situ
This is a macro of it once I pulled it off and flipped it over (you can see eggs even!):









here is a shot taken at 40x, showing eggs and the rim of the capsule:









here's a money shot...one of the crawlers:










the crawlers were quite active. none of the higher magnification shots came out because they were moving too much. I may shoot a dead one tomorrow if I in fact have dead ones (hoping!) They had cool little eyes and waved their antennae a lot. 

I felt itchy for hours LOL!


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Thanks for the pics.
It's nice to see a part of something that you normally would not see without the microscope.


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

the CO2 seemed to work
I was unable to find any crawlers at all when I removed the rest of the capsules. What I did find were mushy little exploded looking things that perhaps used to be crawlers. Exploded things with legs. Found plenty of eggs, but they looked kind of strange - I am hoping that that is the look of dead eggs, but the only way I will know for sure is to wait and see.

I set aside some capsules with eggs in a secure spot and will monitor them daily under the scope to see if any hatch. However, if they don't hatch it may just be because their environment was changed.

Happily, the CO2 also killed whatever it was that was making sawdust on one of my driftwood pieces.

The ants I have were not killed though...which is interesting to note. They aren't causing any trouble anyway.


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