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I collected a large piece of driftwood from an access of my local river, the Lower Cape Fear River. It was too large to boil or sterilize in any container I had--it barely fit in my 75-gallon aquarium. So I prepped it by brushing it, sanding sharp edges, and removing bark or other pieces that were "barely hanging on." I also blasted it with a garden hose (city water) and let it dry in the sun. It was 1-2 weeks before it was setup with the aquarium after collection.
The aquarium has been setup since around April 2019. In the past week or so I've noticed two kinds of organisms living on or around the driftwood.
-One is a tiny white dot that crawls on the driftwood and hops/darts around. It stays on the driftwood or on the glass nearby. Some of them have tiny wings. There are probably hundreds of them. I'm still searching the internet to try and figure out what these are. I've ruled out: daphnia, scuds, cyclops.
-The other is a clear-bodied blob with two antennae, a mouth like a snail, and a central opaque mass. It stays stuck to the glass and moves like a snail. Planaria? Nematode? Nerite snail baby? After a lot of searching I'm 90% sure it is a freshwater Limpet. Apparently they are plant-safe, eat biofilm and algae, and harmless.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure that the tiny white dots are copepods. I'm also convinced "Blobby" is a Limpet. What do you think? Does anyone else have either of these? Sorry the photo quality is not the greatest. These things are really tiny and I only have my cell phone for pictures.
Copepod
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Limpet
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The aquarium has been setup since around April 2019. In the past week or so I've noticed two kinds of organisms living on or around the driftwood.
-One is a tiny white dot that crawls on the driftwood and hops/darts around. It stays on the driftwood or on the glass nearby. Some of them have tiny wings. There are probably hundreds of them. I'm still searching the internet to try and figure out what these are. I've ruled out: daphnia, scuds, cyclops.
-The other is a clear-bodied blob with two antennae, a mouth like a snail, and a central opaque mass. It stays stuck to the glass and moves like a snail. Planaria? Nematode? Nerite snail baby? After a lot of searching I'm 90% sure it is a freshwater Limpet. Apparently they are plant-safe, eat biofilm and algae, and harmless.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure that the tiny white dots are copepods. I'm also convinced "Blobby" is a Limpet. What do you think? Does anyone else have either of these? Sorry the photo quality is not the greatest. These things are really tiny and I only have my cell phone for pictures.
Copepod
Limpet
