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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

BUG INVASION

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18 Jan 2011 21:30 - 18 Jan 2011 21:32 #1 by des (des)
BUG INVASION was created by des (des)
hi all

i can't believe it
i opened the lid of the 600 litre
what did i see ?, a load of little bugs all over the inside of the lid
they are on the inside of the glass just above the water
on closer inspection they seem to be comming from one of the internal filters in the tank
they are about 2mm
none of the fish in the tank are small enough to eat them
i clean the lid often enough
the fish are not over fed, i feed them Prawns, bloodworm, white shrimp, NLS pellets, algae wafers...
none of the food leaves any oily resedue in the water, none of the other tanks have them...
what can i do to get rid of them ?
HELP :ohmy:




















cheers
Des
Last edit: 18 Jan 2011 21:32 by des (des).

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18 Jan 2011 22:20 - 18 Jan 2011 22:21 #2 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
Freaky lookin things, look like ants a bit dont they. It is possible a bug crawled into your tank and laid eggs in the nice warm moist hood of your aquarium?


Any in the tank on the substrate?


Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 18 Jan 2011 22:21 by Ma (mm mm).

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18 Jan 2011 22:28 #3 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
none of them in the water itself or on the substrate
just under the lighting unit, under the lid and loads of them on the top of the internal filter

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18 Jan 2011 22:32 - 18 Jan 2011 22:36 #4 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
i think it might have something to do with the meaty foods, prawns etc.
can't be sleeping in the same room as does little fellers :sick:
the birds flippin, she's convinced we'll find 'em in the bed next :dry:
my head gets itchy just looking at them
Last edit: 18 Jan 2011 22:36 by des (des).

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18 Jan 2011 22:55 #5 by joey (joe watson)
Replied by joey (joe watson) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
either strip the tank down and clean everything in very hot water, or fumigate and rinse very very very well or throw out the lot. seems the only options TBH but it could be your chance to get the missus to let you upgrade the set-up

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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18 Jan 2011 22:55 - 18 Jan 2011 23:02 #6 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
They are springtails, harmless and good food, they are able to walk on water so fish find it difficult to catch them.

Kev.
Last edit: 18 Jan 2011 23:02 by stretnik (stretnik).

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18 Jan 2011 23:01 #7 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Replied by Jim (Jim Lawlor) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
Kev beat me to it :pinch: (stupid crap internet connection)

- looks like Isotoma viridis - as Kev said, harmless, just unsightly.

A good clean of the hood and a few maintenance follow ups will probably get rid of them.

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18 Jan 2011 23:02 #8 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Replied by Jim (Jim Lawlor) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
Excellent close-up photos by the way!

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18 Jan 2011 23:18 #9 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
It's possible they came from any substrate you may have gotten from someone as used substrate, they usually need moist conditions and normal dwellings don't provide those conditions, they probably got into the Substrate when it was stored outside in a Garden etc and ended up in your Tank, normal, cold water washing has no detrimental effect on them and minute hairs on theit legs allow them to spread their already tiny weight over a greater distance on the water surface tension, they flick an appendage on their Asses which catapults them upward. If you had Archer Fish, Bettas etc they would love them.

They are used by Collectors of Amphibians as food, here's a clip.



Kev.

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18 Jan 2011 23:35 #10 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
ah thats great
not as bad as i first thaught
why couldn't they be in the communal tank instead of the tank with fish to big to eat them ?, typical
ah well, i better get scrubbing
thanks lads, i'll keep you updated
i'm surprised i didn't notice them sooner, all my attention has been on the 240 litre tank lately...
thanks for the nice comments on the close up shots Jim, it's a 105mm macro lense, my latest obsession
i had to use the tripod and the flashgun aswell as the lense to get a half decent shot...

thanks a lot lads
that has been very helpfull
any more comments are welcome and appreciated

Des

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19 Jan 2011 00:49 #11 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
I've had these in the past and i never found them anywhere except between the water line and the hood.
Never outside the tank.

I dont think you have any fear of finding them in your bed. Although i have slept with worse.

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19 Jan 2011 01:40 #12 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION

I dont think you have any fear of finding them in your bed. Although i have slept with worse.


hahaha, quality :laugh:

there might be a few ladybugs in there
i'll set you up if you want
you never know, it could be the start of a beautifull relationship

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19 Jan 2011 13:16 #13 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
On the subject of bug invasions...

I am getting a lot of tiny green flies with white wings hatching out of the tank.
Again, a tank where the fish are too big to bother eating the larvae.

I just can't strip down the tank, would rather nuke the little buggers or find some other solution.

Anyone had the same problem or able to offer solutions?

My wife is going to kill me if I don't get it sorted as she's finding lots of dead flies on the windowsills every day :unsure:

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19 Jan 2011 13:58 - 19 Jan 2011 13:59 #14 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION

either strip the tank down and clean everything in very hot water, or fumigate and rinse very very very well or throw out the lot. seems the only options TBH but it could be your chance to get the missus to let you upgrade the set-up

:dry:

whoa calm down man, they're only little 2mm harmless bugs
i might aswell blow the gaff up at that rate :laugh:
plus it's a big tank, i really don't want an upgrade...
maybe you could give me a loan of your sniper riffle, that might do the trick
or should i call in the big guns
Last edit: 19 Jan 2011 13:59 by des (des).

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19 Jan 2011 15:58 #15 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
Is that a REALLY BIG Gun or a very small Man?

Kev.

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19 Jan 2011 18:25 #16 by joey (joe watson)
Replied by joey (joe watson) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
sorry des rifle is sold, only have the 12guage. could try a pipe bomb

ok i know it was a bit overboard they looked huge coz the pic was very good quality. if they were bigger i'd ask you to send some to me for my archers but dont think they'd be inerested in anything that small. would a betta or hatchetfish go in that set-up? they feed from the surface i'd say hatchets would ravish them

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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19 Jan 2011 18:55 - 19 Jan 2011 18:56 #17 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
Is that a REALLY BIG Gun or a very small Man?

a big whopper of a shutgun by the look of it

i'd hate to be on the receiving end of that bad boy
although i wouldn't mind a shot of it the next time i go clay pigeon shooting :)
Last edit: 19 Jan 2011 18:56 by des (des).

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19 Jan 2011 19:09 #18 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION
would a betta or hatchetfish go in that set-up?

a betta, hatchet or anything that small would be eaten in a second unfortunately
there's an arowana, a lima shovelnose, a psuedoplatystoma shovelnose, a paroon shark, 2 big huge eels, a big royal clown knifefish, a niger cat, a megladoras irwini, a syno decorus, a birchir, an uaru among others
they'd all love a few small fish for their dinner
i'd imagine the arowana would be the quickest...

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20 Jan 2011 19:56 #19 by derek (Derek Doyle)

sorry des rifle is sold, only have the 12guage. could try a pipe bomb

i'd say hatchets would ravish them

joey, would that give him hatchet/springtail hybrids?:unsure: :laugh:

great pictures des. the cotton bud to show scale was a great idea.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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20 Jan 2011 20:22 #20 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re: BUG INVASION

great pictures des. the cotton bud to show scale was a great idea.


nice one Derek

they where tricky enough to photograph
the tinyest of movements are massively exaggerated when using that lens
i don't have an infrared remote for it (just yet) and (in retrospect) never thaught of using the timer
they are actually easier than i first thaught to get rid of
by splashing the water on the sides of the tank, it gets them all on the surface of the water and with a fine mesh net, i can net them all out, scalding the net each time, just to be sure
i'd say i have about 90% of them gone from the tank by now
i'll stick with it untill they're all gone but i'd imagine some of the more minute ones will find refuge in the many nooks and crannies that are (inevitably) available for something so small...

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