A creepy critter in my tank!

[Underwurlde]

I had one of these in my tank. I think it is a Damselfly larvae:

They get into the drinking water.

Andy

 

[emmaisaguppy]

Oh my god that is disgusting!!! Thats worse than the leeches I ended up with (although the leeches were harder to get rid of and the treatment also killed all of my fish). I think they came in on plants also!!!

How should we be cleaning plants before adding to tank? Just in a bit of tank water or is there some product? Sureley you can't wash them too much otherwise they will just break?!

 

[shang hi]

im sooo glad i have a UV light built into my filter, lets see the little blighters live long in my tank. MWHahahahahaha MWhahahaha im not crazy.....

haha they would get fried soo bad, good thing i always cheak the water is clear with nothing in it before i put it in my tank

 

[corey01]

maybe it was a water scorpian did it have fat front legs?

 

[emmaisaguppy]

Can somebody who knows about disgusting little unwanted creatures pin a topic to help us to identify these things when we get them?

 

[Underwurlde]

How should we be cleaning plants before adding to tank?

A useful thread of mine on this subject here:

Sanitizing New Plants

Andy

 

[DarkEntity]

If my plants are non Tropica or from a new shop ive never used they get a saltwater bath

 

[emmaisaguppy]

Thanks, now I know why people get plastic plants!!!!!

I like real ones though so have to start doing this!

 

[Tayful]

Can somebody who knows about disgusting little unwanted creatures pin a topic to help us to identify these things when we get them?

I second that!

When I get my "real" tank (all I have now is a 10 gallon) I'm going to plant it. I always knew snails and things could come on the plants but something like this... Gosh, that would creep me out so badly! How gross. I'm shuddering too just thinking about it.

 

[Underwurlde]

Dunno why ppl are getting freaked out by this little insect. They are only 5mm long (ish).
The planet is after all dominated by insect life...

 

[Neo8223]

My sollution.... add a few breeding convicts there. They might eat all the other fish in the tank, but at least they will get rid of the evil thing. (Do not take my advice lol)

 

[Andy7000]

Definitely is a dragonfly or damselfly larvae(closely related). Saw one in my pond the other day it was massive (5cm long) and looked as if it was ready to begin its adult life, it will wait until spring now though as it is too cold.

I wouldn't bother changing your substrate as there wouldn't be any more eggs as mentioned before. The temp in your tank would force the eggs to hatch very quickly.

The appetite on these things is massive so obviously take it out but put it in a pond or stream, beautiful creatures but a little freaky when at the larval stage.

For most species the whole process takes one or two years, and it begins with an egg. Eggs are laid in the vegetation, mud, or directly in the water of rivers, ponds, lochs. After a few weeks or months, depending on the species, the eggs eventually hatch out into larvae (or nymphs). The length of time spent as a larva underwater depends greatly on the temperature and availability of food. The larvae shed their skins many times to grow to full size, and developing ‘wing buds’ can be seen as they near maturity. Most damselflies take about a year to reach adulthood, whereas larger dragonflies may take two or more years.

 

[fall-apart-dave]

I think it was hoyed into the garden!

I love insects, they are like little robots! I agree with the solution Neo gave... Have stuff in there that eats creepy crawlies. Thats what I do, and no problems with any tank intruders yet!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I had a bunch of these come in on some plants as well. Most of the ended up in my sisters pond but it took about a month to catch them all.