[natedgg]

Hi guys/gals,

I'm new to the forum. Been away from fish keeping for about 10 years, but now am getting back into it. Anyhow, setting up a new 55 gallon cichlid tank. Everything is set and I added my water last night. This morning, I went down to see if the crushed coral dust had settled and smooth out the substrate surface. I found this little guy in there. I am pretty sure it is a ghost shrimp of some kind, but that isn't the weird part.

I bought the crushed coral from my LFS (probably sitting a while), and it sat at my house, dry, for about a month up until last night. I also purchased two pieces of old old reef base coral from my LFS old salt water tanks (to bring up ph). The water was freezing this morning, and I thought he was dead. Tried to pick him up out of tank... He started swimming!!! I was shocked. I caught him, and here are the pics. Can a ghost shrimp live out of water for weeks or months?

 

[natedgg]

and.... is it even a ghost shrimp or something else?

 

[Flippercon]

I don't think that's a ghost shrimp. Not sure what it is but I would flush it. Probably a bug of some sort.

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Not a ghost shrimp. Agree that it's a bug. I'd just take it outside and release it.

 

[natedgg]

Thanks guys!

 

[eeztropheus]

mayfly larvae

 

[natedgg]

So that is very interesting. Thanks eeztropheus. Turns out that is probably 99.99% accurate from what I have seen of the larvae pictures. Interesting too is that I live in upstate NY, near Lake Ontario, and that is where they originate from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly

Still the question remains, "how did it get at the bottom of my new full tank"? I cleaned the coral and rocks before i put them in. Wonder if an egg was stuck inside one of the coral reef base rocks and hatched? Seems like a big larvae to have just hatched overnight however. Oh, and they do have gills and eat algae, so it makes sense it can swim

 

[biglove]

Still the question remains, "how did it get at the bottom of my new full tank"?

Better never to ask where an insect has come from...had a patient who crapped a June Bug one time. Seriously. Never ask!

 

[a7oneal]

Yeah, that doesn't look like a younger larval stage. In many cases, the aquatic insects (and some terrestrial insects, such as cicadas) can have larval stages that last years (I'm thinking specifically of dobsonflies, whose larvae are called hellgrammites).

If I had a much better photo, I may be able to ID it further. . .

 

[24Tropheus]

Lets hope its not a dragonfly larvae and you have more of them. :wink:

These guys can crawl from pond to pond or anywhere damp and are nasty little predators.

All the best James

 

[natedgg]

Great, now I'm paranoid! I've started bug hunting. On a good note, I have not found any other of these suckers in my tank, and just added (yesterday) two yellow labs to my new setup with no ill effects.

a7oneal, I got rid of the larvae, so I can't take any further pictures, but thank you.

Thanks all for your input!

 

[24Tropheus]

To be honest I think it prob harmless. If it had been a dragon fly larvae it would have prob drawn blood when you moved it. Nasty little critters.