flea-like dust-sized bugs on the water surface in my tank???

[LM]

Hi all,

well, while I was going through the center brace fiasco, I realized
that the dust specks I've been seeing on the surface of the water
isn't really a dust speck or pollen, but tiny bugs the size of a dust
(or pollen) that can jump and skim along the surface..

and there are HUNDREDS of this thing in my tank water surface and wet
glass surfaces!!! YUCK!!!!

What *are* they?? How do I kill it all off without killing my fish and
plants?

last night out of desperation, I poured some Melafix on the glass
surface where they "collect" (instead of putting it into the water, I
poured the recommended amount onto the glass). that seemed to have
either stunned them or killed some that the rasboras started going
after them after the bugs started swirling on the surface (they don't
pay attention to the bugs when they're alive). so I think they are
somewhat weak against Melafix, but...

ew.

linda

[Frank Bayne]

On Wed, 10/8/08, LM <linda...@yahoo.com> wrote: and there are HUNDREDS of this thing in my tank water surface and wet glass surfaces!!!  YUCK!!!! What *are* they?? How do I kill it all off without killing my fish and plants?

Water fleas (daphnia) - they feed on microscopic particles of organic matter. Your not doing enough gravel vac water changes per week. Remove their food, they die. For a fast fix, you can remove both food and flea by filtering with a diatom or micron cartridges. An ultraviolet sterilizer will also kill them.

last night out of desperation, I poured some Melafix on the glass surface where they "collect" (instead of putting it into the water, I poured the recommended amount onto the glass).  that seemed to have either stunned them or killed some that the rasboras started going after them after the bugs started swirling on the surface (they don't pay attention to the bugs when they're alive).  so I think they are somewhat weak against Melafix, but...

I'll have to make note that Melafix is good for something after-all......... Frank

[videoman]

Bottom posted.

On Oct 8, 5:19 pm, Frank Bayne <frankr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Is Linda talking about flea like bugs jumping ON the top of the
water's surface? If so she has springtails (I think that's what
they’re called) and they are harmless according to what I remember
reading in innnes book. If not that heed frank's advice. Good luck all
and later!

[LM]

yes, the bugs skitter on the surface of the water, and also sort of
jump around flea-like from the surface of the water to the glass. and
once on glass surface (and other out-of-water-but-wet surface), they
sort of move around paramecium-like. they don't seem to go underwater
at all. I think that is why the fish never took notice until they
either got killed or stunned by concentrated Melafix and started to
sink into the water, or actually sit in the water, as opposed to
skittering on the surface.

I see sort of two kinds (probably larvae/adult groupings?).. one group
that looks really like pollens.. white, dust-like, just imagine
dusting the surface of your tank with a little bit of powder.. that's
what it looks like...and others that are somewhat beige, cigar-shaped
(but still tiny). all are non-submerged (one reason why I never
really noticed since the water level is usually above the area where
the plastic frame rim hides it... hard to distinguish them looking
from underneath towards the surface with all the tiny bubbles and
*real* dusts). now with the water level down to keep the tank stress
low, the water surface is at my eye-level, as well as more wet glass
surface to see through...

They've been settling on my feeder ring too (plastic thing with foam
frame so it floats... allows me to put flakes without it being blown
to bits in a high-turbulence water surface). that thing has some
green algaes that I can't scrub off anymore (I suppose I could dunk it
in chlorine and then try to dechlorinate it to get rid of the algaes,
but..)

harmless or no, I want it out! (I have this thing against bugs...)

I don't think filter works to get rid of them. unless i get something
like a surface skimmer.. none of the bugs are *in* the water. just
floating on the surface of the water, or cruising on a wet surface
(also on surface of wet water)...

linda

[Mister Gardener]

Frank Bayne wrote:

I'll have to make note that Melafix is good for something after-all.........

You mean besides sniffing?

MG

[marypage]

I picture you two like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in the bucket
list, first the hospital, then the adventures. MG would be Jack, a
little out of control but full of good adventerous ideas, and Frank
would be Morgan, a little more level headed but subject to MG's
charisma. Ever thought of making a bucket list, I have and i am about
to start implementing here shortly.

On Oct 9, 5:24 am, Mister Gardener <mistergarde...@email.toast.net>
wrote:

[NetMax]

Can you change your filter return to pour on to the surface of the
water? The bugs are travelling on the surface tension of the water.
You can reduce the surface tension with an airstone, or pouring water
through it. The filter return would actually act as a funnel, pulling
the protein layer at the surface down into the water, maybe even
taking a few (all?) bugs down to become fresh live food.

NetMax

> > and later!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Andy Gratton]

Speaking of bugs & fresh live food I was placing  half a cucumber in the 4ft tank  today  and while the splash cover was off  a  crane fly  crash landed on the water, needless to say it did  not escape the attentions of my unruly  gang of Cichlids  who decided  that  tug of war  was  a good game  and dispatched said crane fly in little under  10 seconds  all dashing to different parts  of the tank with their spoils, I bet now they will be expecting this treat every day  lol

2008/10/9 NetMax <comput...@hotmail.com>

[Mister Gardener]

I believe the bucket list has already been started with the photo of Frank's that I (copy and pasted) recently. If we're going to make a bucket list, may as well start at the bottom. Frank's, that is.

MG

[NetMax]

This focus on bottoms is starting to worry me. At least if it was
shapely young female (or male?) bottoms, but no, its hospital gowns
and diapers on old men. yuck!

NetMax

On Oct 9, 5:54 pm, Mister Gardener <mistergarde...@email.toast.net>
wrote:

> >> MG- Hide quoted text -

[Gill]

NetMax wrote:
> This focus on bottoms is starting to worry me. At least if it was
> shapely young female (or male?) bottoms, but no, its hospital gowns
> and diapers on old men. yuck!
>
> NetMax
>
>

Forget MG and Frank's bums.....cheer yourself by thinking of our
"bankers" currently wandering around with their pants down.....and
"always look on the bright side of life"

Gill

[Altum]

Sounds like springtails. Stop feeding for a few days and your
suddenly hungry fish should take care of the problem in short order.

--Altum

[Boston]

well maybe this will cheer you up some
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/bostonpyramidbuilder/hotass.gif
hoping whoever is running this show has a sense of humor
cause the rest of us sure do

thing that cheer's me is that this is actually a golden opportunity in
the market.
currencies are going to go haywire next and when the peso was down I
did well having bought in heavily
cant wait to see what happens in the currencies market
gm is taking a huge hit dropped 30+ % just today
overall market drop over the preceding year is 40%
there is a huge ship coming in
and if the dock survives the crash
and with a little timing
Im jumping on
happy sailing
B

> NetMax wrote:
> > This focus on bottoms is starting to worry me.  At least if it was
> > shapely young female

[Mister Gardener]

halloween will never be the same . . .

[Mister Gardener]

Nice Bum. With entries like this, I'm hoping off tropic weekend will be a real bummer!

Do you think it's time for me to take Angelfish Gardens public? Would you like to by some shares?

MG - I have a friend who gets furious at economy jokes - can't blame him - hope I don't offend anyone here.

[Donna Camp]

Talk about new haunted houses for neighborhoods!

 

Donna

who is happy it's 43 outside her home and not 33 right now!

[Mister Gardener]

NetMax wrote:

This focus on bottoms is starting to worry me.  At least if it was
shapely young female (or male?) bottoms, but no, its hospital gowns
and diapers on old men. yuck!

How about a plumber's, (or carpenter's) butt?

[Boston]

the ass
I wasnt sure how that one was going to go over
guess it was a risky investment ( har har har )

[LM]

Hi Netmax,

the spray bar already splashes directly into the surface right now...
(60% filled tank, and spray bar is near the top.. very noisy). no
difference.. mainly because the buggers are so small, even with a
cascade turbulence, they just seem to either stay on the surface of
the water, or just hop to calmer water surface and not get caught in
the vortex. and for whatever reason, while they're alive and skimming
along the surface of the water, the fish I have ignores them (sigh...
too bad my gouramis died off few years back... I suppose I could
temprarily move my betta from the other tank.. but don't want to
stress him out too much with high-turbulence tank...).

BUT! I think Melafix does do something to them. As I reported
earlier, I used an eye dropper (the medicine dropper that comes with
liquid prescriptions for kids), and dribbled melafix all along the top
surface of the glass tank, so that the Melafix would sheet and coat
the surface of the exposed glass as it dripped down into the tank...
(sort of what you try to do with toilet bowl cleaners... sort of coat
the surface of the toilet by pouring the cleaner under the rim and
letting it dribble down)

and what you see is all the little buggers hopping off the tank in a
hurry... and many becoming immobile (not sure if they're stunned or
actually dead).. and then start clumping together and swirling on the
surface of the water... at which point the rasboras are making a nice
protein snacks out of them!! On my first day of treatment, i had a
huge clump of them sort of collecting at the edge of the water/tank
interface... so I aimed the spray bar return to get it off the tank
wall... then rasboras went nuts.

so I've been doing this for 3 days now (after dribbling the melafix, i
let it sit for 20-30 seconds, and then use my magfloat to "wipe down
and dilute" the melafix back into the tank), and although there still
are springtails coasting on the wet glass surface and the surface of
the water, the population is much smaller than before... actually the
large beige ones are nowhere to be seen.. i only see the white smaller
population now.

So I'm going to water change tomorrow (25% of a 60% full tank.. wonder
what the fish would think) to dilute the melafix out of the tank and
continue with this Melafix-icide and see if it will really kill it
off.. eventually... so I'm only feeding the bottom feeders.. letting
the rasboras go hungry... may be i'll feed it flakes tomorrow.

my tank really smells nice now.

I'm glad my bottle of Melafix isn't going to waste after all. so I'm
hopeful! may be i should publish this (or someone can.. as a
potential way to get rid of springtails in a tank!) the trick is to
dribble the Melafix sparingly, since you don't (or I don't) want to
use more than the 5ml/10gal dose, but you want to cover all 4 tank
walls to drive all of them into the water and discourage them from
hopping back onto the glass...

does anyone know how much I could add this thing and not harm fish/
biological filter/plants?

linda

[Boston]

you could try a spray bottle and maybe that would be a more efficient
way to apply said dosage
to the glass

maybe

[Andy Gratton]

IIRC  Melafix/Pimafix  are  made from  Tea Tree oil  extracts in  some way , so it is not suprising the floating bugs dont like the stuff , Tea Tree Extract is a natural product  so wont harm  your fish ,and is basically  a cure-all  used for other things like an antiseptic,  also makes good shampoo & conditioner  and it smells nice too .

2008/10/11 LM <linda...@yahoo.com>

[videoman]

Bottom posted.

> > NetMax- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -

Linda - you might try a cheap surface skimmer (NOT protein skimmer, at
least I don't think). They attach to the input of a filter (HOB power
filter for example) and pull the surface of the body of water into the
filter where it (the surface water) gets filtered and then out flowed
back into the tank. Good luck all and later!

[LM]

On Oct 11, 2:24 am, "Andy Gratton" <anglerfis...@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> IIRC Melafix/Pimafix are made from Tea Tree oil extracts in some way ,
> so it is not suprising the floating bugs dont like the stuff , Tea Tree

yeah. that's what I figured. potential pyrethins... BTW, is there
any difference betwen Melafix and Pimafix?

> Extract is a natural product so wont harm your fish ,and is basically a
> cure-all used for other things like an antiseptic, also makes good shampoo
> & conditioner and it smells nice too .

shampoo and conditioner? did not know that ;-)

linda

[Mister Gardener]

LM wrote:

yeah.  that's what I figured.  potential pyrethins...  BTW, is there
any difference betwen Melafix and Pimafix?

http://www.aquariumguys.com/pimafix16oz.html

http://www.aquariumguys.com/melafix16oz.html

The size and dosage makes a big difference to me. The concentration in the aquarium bottles, 16 oz, are barely enough to get through one full treatment if you follow the label. They are also available in Pond Strength, very concentrated, 16 ounces lasts a long time in aquarium applications. The pond and aquarium concentrations are nearly the same in price, around $10 at Drs Foster and Smith.

MG

[Andy Gratton]

Yup  I use tea tree shampoo & conditioner all the time  and never seem to be bothered by any  bugs when all around me are getting bitten  alive   lol ,

2008/10/11 LM <linda...@yahoo.com>

[Gill Passman]

On Oct 12, 12:34 am, "Andy Gratton" <anglerfis...@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> Yup  I use tea tree shampoo & conditioner all the time  and never seem to be
> bothered by any  bugs when all around me are getting bitten  alive   lol ,
>

Following an epidemic of head lice in my daughter's class at school, I
now not only use the tea tree shampoo for her (that I have used for
around a year) - but a group of us are now dabbing on Tea Tree Oil
onto our kids every morning like it is perfume - lol

Gill

[Andy Gratton]

Yes it is very effective  at getting rid of unwanted nasties like those ,lots better than those nasty chemical based lotions lol,

On a more topical note , I am gnashing my teeth  because there is a Fish show  about 5 miles from  mw and as usual  it falls on the wrong weekend  when I am  out of cash  lol , Especially when  major  players like Tetra  & PFK  are there as well as Ro-Man & Hagen   well if its here next year lol  I will make sure I have some  pennies to play with  and scuttle over to see it ,

2008/10/12 Gill Passman <gi...@taylorpassman.co.uk>

[Altum]

On Oct 12, 2:05 am, Gill Passman <g...@taylorpassman.co.uk> wrote:


> Following an epidemic of head lice in my daughter's class at school, I
> now not only use the tea tree shampoo for her (that I have used for
> around a year) - but a group of us are now dabbing on Tea Tree Oil
> onto our kids every morning like it is perfume - lol

Be careful with that stuff. Keep your tea tree oil in the
refrigerator and dilute it 1:20 in something like almond oil. Throw
it away after three months and get fresh. Tea tree oil oxidizes into
a sensitizing terpenes, and once someone is sensitized it's a lifelong
allergy.

--Altum

[Mister Gardener]

Altum wrote:

Be careful with that stuff.  Keep your tea tree oil in the
refrigerator and dilute it 1:20 in something like almond oil.  Throw
it away after three months and get fresh.  Tea tree oil oxidizes into
a sensitizing terpenes, and once someone is sensitized it's a lifelong
allergy.

Damn, you're smart! You're also delivering an important general message: Just because something is all natural doesn't mean it is without potential dangers.

MG - feeling a sudden urge to scratch my head . . .

[Tynk]

Isn't Altum a gem!

= )

On Oct 13, 9:50 am, Mister Gardener <mistergarde...@email.toast.net>
wrote: