[SpaceToFu]

Two weeks ago I discover little dots in my tank moving around in the gravel. I paid no mind to them until they started to multiply. I did my research and found that they are Ostracods. There all over my glass, mainly on little areas of algae. I tried to clean as much algae as I could. I even siphoned a bunch of them every water change but they just keep coming. So I got frustrated and drop the chemical bomb. I overdosed with Excel and it worked like a charm. None of my plants got harmed in the process and everything seems to be back to normal. I was sadly mistaken and now there back and im seeking for some help in getting rid of them. I don’t have any fish in the tank but wondering if there's a fish that would do the job.

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

Any small fish should be happy to vacuum them up. A young female betta or guppies should work. They're very nutritious.

 

[HeyPK]

They are EXTREMELY hard to get rid of because they lay bombproof eggs, stuffed in little crevices. Drying, concentrated acids, concentrated bases, concentrated bleach and anaerobic conditions do not bother the eggs. I have tried all of that. Furthermore, the eggs have variable hatching times of who knows how long---up to at least a couple of years. About the only way to get rid of them is to keep fish or other critters that eat every one that hatches and keep them for about 3 years. I think that by three years all the eggs will have hatched. Another way might be to remove all the inside silicone , scrub thoroughly, and re-silicone the tank. Possibly heating the tank to near-boiling might do it; I have not tried that yet. Be glad you have the little ones and not the big ones that eat plants!

 

[aquabillpers]

If you don't have predators in a tank, all manner of organisms will be happy to
take advantage of your hospitality. Many are interesting in themselves. Don't worry about them.

As Fortuna said, a few fish will take care of them and the fish will be very happy in the process.

Bill

 

[Sunstar]

I have had a cocpode outbreak in my shrimp bowl I added a couple fry and WHAM no more cocpodes.

Little mouths do big work.

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

I actually am really fascinated by the paramecia and small inverts. I have free floating nematodes, and tiny crawly annelids, tardigrades, and cyclops copepods in most of my tanks. I try to transfer water between them to make sure that they have these inverts. They help a lot in keeping down algae and breaking up dead plant matter.

I've noticed the worst green water outbreaks in tanks that do not have a population of fry food.

Edit: You know what, I'd like a water sample so I could introduce them to my tanks...

 

[SpaceToFu]

thanks guys. i will buy some guppies tomorrow. I'll update on the progress. hope this works.

 

[SpaceToFu]

forget it. i bailed out on the guppies. i dont really like them much. will cardinal tetras help me in getting rid of my problem ?

 

[Cavan Allen]

Probably, but I'd recommend dwarf croaking gouramies if you can find them (Trichopsis pumila). They are incredibly efficient at hunting down stuff like that and fun to watch while they're doing it.