Help identifying this hitchhiking critter!

Piney Pete said:

Thanks for reply Tim. To be honest I did not turn it over. While these pics are not clear I think it had leg appendages on its sides and moved in a crawling sliding motion. All past tense because after he survived a 5 minute bleach I dispatched him with very hot water...

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It looks like a maggot but legs mean It’s not a maggot. Probably some kind of isopod-like mud critter. You never know as some things are beneficial (like bladder snails eat dead foliage and algae and clean my tank) while other things are destructive. I wouldn’t want some root eating critter for example as that would destroy my tanks. So far I’ve been very happy with my hitchhikers. My favorite hitchhikers so far are ostrocods (seed shrimp). They are excellent microfauna algae cleaners and I find them cute too. I have even started a separate culture aquarium jar to keep them safe and reproducing.