Possible tank invader?

[FrumpyJack]

I have only been keeping Neocaridinas for about two months now, I have 10 blue dream neos in one tank, and 12 orange neos in a separate tank. The tank with the 10 blue dream neos has been slightly problematic though because it's a smaller tank and waste builds up a little faster.

That being said, can anybody ID this swimmer in my shrimp tank? There is only 1 that I can see, it appears to have an exoskeleton almost like a shrimp, and it swims at the surface of the water by whipping its tail. I don't think it's a baby shrimp fry because I'm just now seeing my first female berried up and there haven't been any births before, but I suppose it is possible a fry snuck in with my order. Any help would be appreciated ?

[sdlTBfanUK]

The quality isn't very clear but to me it does look like a shrimp. Mine sometimes swim like that at the surface when being fed.

Fingers crossed you have your first baby shrimp.

 

Simon

[FrumpyJack]

Yeah, it's hard to get a clear picture through the curve of the glass and looking up at the light. Sorry about that. 

I do have a nice biofilm of bacteria on the surface of the water in that region of the tank where the water is still and the specimen in question seems most interested in feeding on the biofilm 

[jayc]

Catch it, then take a close up, macro shot that is in focus.

No one is going to be able to help you identify that.

Oh, you can read through this post to see if you can id it https://skfaquatics.com/forum/topic/1384-aquariumtank-creatures-101/

 

Edited October 28, 2018 by jayc

[FrumpyJack]

I tried my best with my phone camera. I don't think it's a baby shrimp 

[FrumpyJack]

[sdlTBfanUK]

Thats freaky and doesn't look like a shrimp that I know of. If you haven't already fished it out then that would probably be a good idea ASAP (it may have eggs or something) and if you want to keep it until you identify it just put it in an old jar. I would flush it though, it doesn't look like something I would want in any tank!

Hope you get to the bottom of it?

Simon

[jayc]

Don't know what that is either.

But it looks small, if that is a glass cup/jar you have it in.

 

Is your tank an open top tank?

Edited January 10, 2019 by jayc

[FrumpyJack]

It is tiny. It's only about 1 mm or 1/16 inch in length. I pulled it out of the tank and into a smaller cup to take the pictures and it died in the process. Upon further inspection of my tank though, there appear to be a few more in there. 

They seem to only stay up at the surface of the water where they appear to be feeding on biofilm and algae. I'm wondering if it's a relative of detritus worms. 

Other than the shrimps, I only have one Siamese flying fox fish in the tank and one mystery snail and they appear to be quite healthy and active with no symptoms of parasites 

[jayc]

It's an insect's larvae of some kind. 

I'm surprised the fish isn't eating them all.

Try to get rid of them manually by catching them if you can.

[Zoidburg]

I'd guess a mosquito

[Mrnst7]

I had something similar in my shrimp tank that looked like a green shrimp but whipped its tail in an almost snake like motion to move.

Im guessing you bought aquatic plants from a pet store? That is what happened to me and I didn't do a salt rinse to clean the plant  before I put it in my tank. I called the store and they said they get random bugs on their plants since they are imported and I chose to just flush him down the drain.

You can also end up with larva or random insects in your tank if you have an open ended tank in say a basement, I get stink bugs and other insects occasionally finding their way in one of my tanks.

I would remove anything in your tank you do not specifically want in there. 

[jojowhisky]

Hi there!
Im going with@zoidburg and saying its a mosquito larvae.
They tend to stay at the water surface and will wiggle madly when disturbed.
If you try to scoop it out, they can dive to the bottom of the tank, stay there for awhile before returning to the surface.
Also surprised why your fishes are not eating that.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[bobet116]

It looks like a brown worm is there any moss balls in you tank.

Sent from my SM-N9208 using Shrimp Keepers Forum mobile app

[FrumpyJack]

2 hours ago, bobet116 said:

It looks like a brown worm is there any moss balls in you tank.

Sent from my SM-N9208 using Shrimp Keepers Forum mobile app
 

Yes, I actually had just put in six small moss balls and some other new plants before I first noticed the worms. I haven't been able to fully get rid of them, but I only see one every once in awhile and they don't seem to be harming anything at this point