Hi everyone, I set up a new tank for some shrimp about two months ago. The plants are establishing themselves and things looked good. Then I got the bright idea to get a cup of pond water from my outdoor pond and add it to the tank. I thought it would add infusoria. The last two weeks I’ve started seeing lots of life forms swimming about the tank. Is this good or have a made a terrible decision?

52 minutes ago, Whiterabbitrage said:

Is this good or have a made a terrible decision?

It depends. 

Some people don't mind the daphnia and seed shrimp that might be introduced into the tank, but some people think it is an eye sore. especially if the tank is over run by them.

Some people consider these lifeforms as a sign of a healthy tank, and can use them as an indicator of poor water quality.

However not all pond creatures are harmless. If you have dragonfly larvae, they can hunt and eat shrimps, even small fish.

Planaria is also not desireable.

Do you know what you have in the tank?

I did similar with my first tank by taking leaves from a lake! Never again, their must have been water louse on them and I ended up with an infestation of those, and some sort of clear leeches (creepy). Having said that I am expecting to send friends to the lake today to get some dahnia for the fish, but I put them in a separate container and pipette them into the tank so I don't get any unwanteds.

The best summar I can think of is it is really easy to get unwanteds and Bl**dy difficul/pain to get rid of them so generally don't risk it. I dought there would be much in the pond water that the shrimps would want anyway as they scavenge on the bottom, not in the water?

As JayC says, you need to identify what they are, many are harmless, but even these can look dreadful if they reproduce too many?

I also got an infestation of seed shrimps (they don't swim about) from somewhere, but as the P|ROPE|R shrimps died off I got a killifish and he cleaned those up at an incredible rate. Those though can't have come from a pond/lake water here as I don't do that anymore, as stated!

If it is a fairly new tank the critters may have come on the plants and not the water - I got hydra once that way!

Just try and identify what the critters are for now, and I wouldn't use the pond water again in the future? I'll try and se if there is a thread about bugs on this forum and post it as a link if I find it?

Simon

oh, that was quick, here it is

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/topic/1384-aquariumtank-creatures-101/

 

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by sdlTBfanUK

Thank you guys for the quick response and thank you Simon for the article which is very helpful. What I did was so dumb! At the time I was just thinking more life forms; but who knows what I’ve added. There are some worms that are clear and swim in a figure eight motion. The rest of the creatures I see are very tiny, nearly microscopic. If it turns out there are parasites or disease then I will have the fun of tearing the tank down and quarantining the plants. If that happens I think I will need to buy a bigger tank as a gift to cheer myself up. Thanks again for your help.

11 minutes ago, Whiterabbitrage said:

There are some worms that are clear and swim in a figure eight motion.

Nematodes. Harmless, but unsightly if they multiply. 

 

11 minutes ago, Whiterabbitrage said:

If that happens I think I will need to buy a bigger tank as a gift to cheer myself up

LOL ? 

great excuse. I might use that one too.

Oh wait, I already bought a 2 footer recently.

Edited August 16, 20205 yr by jayc

I was hoping that they were harmless nematodes and would make good food for the future Kuhli loaches. 

A fish should soon rid you  of those!

Simon