New Aliens in the tank!

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

Got some hornwort in tonight, put it in the tank with all new plants, nothing was QT'd, since they were all new I just wanted to give them a couple weeks with no fish in the tank to kind of QT. I wasnt worried about snails, I figured id just catch them later but wanted to give enough time for fish parasites to croak. However, there are some critters in here that I didnt think of or know about??

First I saw this little clear critter swimming around by the surface, quick and not small like a copepod, very visible, but still not big enough for me to get a pic of :/ ...he like swims near the surgace and moves up and down til he finds a plant. Then I look down and see this green thing on my drift wood, its has feet and a skinny head with punchers? Looks like a skinny inch worm with a creepy head. Kind slinks around the log lost...kinda moves like an inch worm too...I did get a picture of it but its not very clear :/

Any thoughts?




will they harm the fish/plants? if Yes, how can rid them? If they arent harmful I dont care if they are there, but if they are id like to get rid of them.

[mousey]

is that a dragon fly nymph?
I wonder what the source of the plants is to have critters on them.
I try to only by Tropica plants as they are clear of all parasites.

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

ill have to look it up, the hornwort came from aquariumplants.com, I never had critters on my plants before, kinda stange. I always have good luck with petco prepackaged plants and liveaquaria, I think ill be sticking to them for now on...nothing wrong with the plants from this new plants, they look healthy and all, just disapointed to have soooo many new critters. I have see through looking baby snails, some weird gray swimmers and that worm lol. I dont think its a dragon fly larvea or nymph, when I googled it, it was nearly the same color but has too many legs.

[BettaGuy]

An underwater caterpillar?

Don't have a clue honestly, but it does look like some sort of larva that would develop into something bigger later.

[TheOldSalt]

Not dragonfly.
Caddisfly. Pretty rare! It must have lost it's home. Normally they live in a cocoon that they drag around with them.
Aquariumplants.com has the dirtiest plants I've ever seen, positively crawling with various critters. Mostly harmless and kinda cool, but also harmful stuff like Hydra and water tigers are regular hitchers on their stuff.

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

Bummer, doesn't look like one of those when googled either, looking more like a predatory water beetle larvae...also upon night time inspection there appears to be some nocturnal creepers as well...seriously bummed out and really hoping these things aren't a problem for the fish. I assumed snails maybe but an entire ponds worth of critters is just not cool.

[sean_130]

Next time if their is a next time, dip plants in bleach I believe, and or quarantine plants for a week or two

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

I know :/ this is the first time I didnt QT plants from a plant company I have no previous experience with...I dont bother Qting prepackaged petco plants or plant I get from liveaquaria, I always get good quality plants from them. I figured, whats the worst that would happen, snails? Guess not lol, all kinda of weird things...so far though the cycle fish are still alive this AM so none of the critters have made them a snack yet. Wonder if aquariumplants.com raise their plants outside in ponds?? At that rate I might as well have picked some hornwort out of our lake lol, would have still had unknown critter but it wouldve been free and I wouldnt have had to pay overpriced shipping! Im not going to worry though, Ill just let nature take its course in there. I plan to get some corys once everything is cycled..wonder if theyd eat some of these things?

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

Anyone building tanks...QT your plants! Now the little misc snails have like wormy things on the shell

[lohachata]

when you get new plants in dip them in the following solution for precisely 2 minutes....

large container or bucket...1 part bleach.....19 parts water...
like 1cup bleach 19 cups water in a 5 gallon bucket....

after 2 minutes remove plants and rinse thoroughly several times...

rinse the bucket well and fill 1/2 way and dose with dechlor at 10x normal dose...

[FRIENDLYFISHIES]

I better write that down! Thanks Loha!