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Anonymous

Guest
So I was changing the water in my red devil's 55g. The poor thing had been neglected lately and the nitrates had gone through the roof.
I notice on top of the water tiny white/grey bugs. I didn't have my camera with me at the time or I would have gotten a shot of them, but I think they were too small for even my macro lens to catch clearly.
I thought they were just tiny crumbs or flakes of dried mineral sediment that fell off the hood, expect they were all uniform in size (roughly flea shaped, but even smaller) and occasionally one would jump, and several of them seemed to be swimming or skimming in an orderly fashion. My first thought here is, what could they possibly be eating off the top of the water? The devil doesn't leave any food pellets left over, she's a glutton.
Has anyone had these before and know what they were? Should I even worry about trying to get rid of them?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
You got springtails, these are small primative insects. Most likely they are feeding on bacteria, fungi, algae on surface film of the tank or along the water glass boundries. I wouldn't worry about them.Cleaning the tank will help to control the bloom of the critters.
 

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