Things. In my aquarium.

August 7, 2013 5:46 PM

I checked on my aquarium today, only to discover a couple of little tiny shrimp-like things scooting around. I do not have shrimp.

As my eyes refocused, I saw that there were *hundreds* of micro shrimp-like things swimming everywhere in the water. Everywhere. I think they're baby centipedes, because they have lots and lots of tiny tiny legs and my apartment building has a few. But this. this is too much.

I've decided to drain the tank in to a waiting vat of bleach, then put aquarium salt on every other damn thing in the tank (There weren't any fish in the tank, I was getting it ready for fish).

Is there anything else I should do now? Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future (eg. regularly putting salt in the water? Will that work??)? Or will it be impossible to have an aquarium without getting these??

I am so squicked right now. I can't even. Please help. please.

posted by avidreader to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Best answer: You have scuds. Look it up. They are fresh water shrimp, and they come aboard in the plants you put in the aquarium. They are not horrible, but they reproduce quickly, like mealybugs, and they congregate under things.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:50 PM on August 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't know anything about anything but I do know that if you get rocks or sand or pebbles or whatever from the ocean, or from an aquarium place that doesn't sterilize its tank ornament/bedecking stuff properly, you can end up with some terrifying invaders (album is from Reddit, it's not mine).
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:53 PM on August 7, 2013

Here's the link I tried to include before: Scuds.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:56 PM on August 7, 2013

Response by poster: Oh-- thanks halfbuckaroo. I guess scuds are better than centipedes... but I'm still not really interested in them. A google search hasn't turned up many ways of getting rid of them other than feeding them to fish, so if anyone has suggestions on how to keep them from happening, I'm all ears.
posted by avidreader at 6:05 PM on August 7, 2013

Response by poster: Found another couple of solutions: bombing the tank with CO2 or sucking them up with a turkey baster. So: resolved. Thanks mefi.

turbid dahlia, here's hoping Kevin Bacon can help get rid of those
posted by avidreader at 6:36 PM on August 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Any chance you could just get fish that eat them?
posted by amtho at 6:42 PM on August 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

They are terrific scavengers, and they live off leftover food, which is a good thing if you're trying to keep a bio-balanced aquarium. They are also very sensitive to aquarium water quality, which means that you're doing a good job on your set up.

While I linked to the guppie forum, they are no match for a pair of hungry cichlids. They can decimate a population of gammarus in fifteen minutes flat, and they enjoy it.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 6:56 PM on August 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

For future reference (and I mean this un-snarkily), centipedes are not aquatic, and cannot live under water.
posted by Specklet at 10:03 PM on August 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I'm just glad I don't have the centipede breeding ground that I was afraid of. Since these scuds help clean, feed, and assess water quality in the tank...that doesen't sound bad at all. I'll see if I can find fish that eat them, instead of my original plan.

Specklet, centipedes may not be aquatic but even so, before I posted here I googled and found at least two pictures from people who found large centipedes in their aquariums, so seems that it's not impossible that they get in fishtanks. Maybe they seek water and fall in? Who knows.
posted by avidreader at 6:59 AM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]