I messed up..... Bug Problem!!!

26pets

Candiru
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Nov 3, 2008
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I figured it would be cheaper to get saltwater from the ocean as I was setting up a wild caught sea horse tank so why not get water from their home. Well anyways I saw some micro algae and some sea grass when I added this all to the tank I was landscaping the plants and pouring in the saltwater directly into the tank. Well later I found out theres a whole bunch of bugs that were in the plants....:irked: But theres also a whole bunch of copypods in the tank I want to keep. Do I have to redo the whole intire tank? Or can I do something with out ripping the whole tank apart? Plz help....:nilly:
 

mr.reef24

Fire Eel
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Apr 21, 2009
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26pets;3121607; said:
I figured it would be cheaper to get saltwater from the ocean as I was setting up a wild caught sea horse tank so why not get water from their home. Well anyways I saw some micro algae and some sea grass when I added this all to the tank I was landscaping the plants and pouring in the saltwater directly into the tank. Well later I found out theres a whole bunch of bugs that were in the plants....:irked: But theres also a whole bunch of copypods in the tank I want to keep. Do I have to redo the whole intire tank? Or can I do something with out ripping the whole tank apart? Plz help....:nilly:
these bug's can you picture them they could be benifical Amphipods don't panic yet post me a picture of the bugs

mr.reef24
 

ronin_man

Feeder Fish
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Aug 4, 2008
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26pets

Candiru
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Nov 3, 2008
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The only thing thats benificial in there is the copepods
I did find some ids on the other creatures.....
http://www.mov.vic.gov.au/crust/mov1662t.html
The other things are black little lines that blend in with the plants. The have like suction mouths that cling onto things.
 

26pets

Candiru
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Bump?
 

sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
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Mar 10, 2007
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do you have any corals in this tank. And I couldnt tell if you were saying your keeping plants, or just got water from around plants?? What do you have for fish and rock??

ill post my idea when i have more info, to avoid bad advise lol.
 

26pets

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2008
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Ok heres whats going on about the tank:
Its a new/old tank being set up.... What I mean by that is I had a tank crash in that tank so I moved all my fish over to another tank *Dumb sea cucumber....*
Anyways I got an early birth day present that I wasn't ready for. 2 wild caught seahorses
I do have experience in keeping sea horses but have never kept plants

Tank details
55 gallon tank
2 Wild Caught Seahorses
Wild Plants/Micro Algae~ Which the bugs came in...
100% Ocean Water
About 20 or more pounds of my old rock from my other tank with lots of coraline =P
No corals

So this is what I have done over the past 2 days....
Day 1- Rinsed sand- Cycled but tank crash so practically new
Went to coast and collected sea water and sea grass/Micro Algae
Found bugs in tank

Day 2- Emptied tank of plants drained and cleaned till no more bugs were seen *so I went over board on the tank a bit.....Lol
Filled with tap water <Chlorine> In hopes to kill the bugs...
Dipped plants in 10% bleach
Washed off plants about 50 times then tested by putting a crab in there crab was fine
Went further out to a farther beach and collected water
Checked for bugs - No bugs
Filled tank with new ocean water
Put some plants back in- Stared at tank for about 2hrs... Not kidding.... Making sure there's no bugs
After about 3hrs of no bugs and readings on tank good I started acclimating seahorses. When reading the journey of two days the seahorses were in a bucket with an air pump not to think all this was going on and they were in the tank...
The tank is a bit cloudy right now till the sand settles but everything else is doing fine
As far as the bugs I got everything out even my copepods =( but in order to get the bad guys out it had to be done.

*BUT THERE IS STILL SOME TYPE OF BUG IN THE TANK.......
Its the black line one that I was trying to discribe before. They are impossible to kill..... They stick on the plants good. I got rid of most of them but pressure washing... But some still stuck.... Any one know what these are? They dont seem to bug my seahorses or anything in the tank but still what are they and could they harm the seahorses?
 

sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
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Mar 10, 2007
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heres my suggestion. Ditch the plants you have now, place the seahorses in QT with new water, to avoid transfering the unk bug. Kill the rock with pure water, then recure in saltwater, this will ensure the bug in the rock, if there are any, are killed off. Then run hypo on the tank, the low salinity will prevent the bugs from cycling, and kill them off. While all this is going on, your seahorses should be fine in the QT tank. Try and make it as home like as possilbe. After you recycle the tank, you should be bug free. When you get more plants, you'll want to do your cleaning process to prevent the entrance of bugs and such. thats what i would do.
 

ghostbear29

Feeder Fish
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Jul 1, 2007
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im more of a natural reefer. most things in the tank stay there, as long as they dont get out of hand. BUT I DEFINATELY do not use bleach on anything. just scares the ish out of me.:nilly:

I did some looking at my marine bio books from school, and many of the hitchhikers are just that. they live and feed off of nutrients in the sea grass. Thalossa? <- i always get the names wrong.... turtle grass and sargassum varieties are notorious for harboring lots of clingers! I bet your sea horses will do just fine, as for the bug....it probably wont last long in captive care. micro feeders dont usually get enough food in a captive water column. IME.
good luck.
 
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