white worms? what am i?

[EmptyWallet]

Hi there.

Can anyone tell me what these guys are?

I bought some pods and put them in a culture bucket. A month later the culture bucket has been taken over by these little white worm thingeys - are they rotifers? Is it some sort of cocoon for the pods to hatch from? They don't move at all...

Thanks!



Regards,

Andrew.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Are they hard? anything coming out of one end? Kind look like some kind of tube worm or feather duster type thing to me.

 

[EmptyWallet]

Nah they are soft and squishey (like a worm) but their appears to be hard casings on the bottom of the bucket. I'm guessing I don't want these guys in my tank yeah and should discard the culture bucket?

 

[ThunderGoose]

How do they move? Where is the bucket stored? Could they be mosquito or fly larvae?

 

[EmptyWallet]

They don' move at all. The risk of filling the house with mosquitos is all I need to scrap the bucket ASAP, thanks for the warning hadn' thought of that!

 

[ThunderGoose]

If they don't move I'd guess fly larvae of some sort.

Since it's salt water the mosquito risk depends on where you live. If you're inland there probably won't be any mosquitoes adapted to salt water. I live near the coast so salt water mosquitoes are a possibility. Don't feel you have to get rid of the bucket for that. You just need a good lid.

 

[Flexin]

Mosquito larva will swim deeper to get away from you and go back to the surface to breath. Maybe get that out of the house regardless..

 

[EmptyWallet]

Thanks Folks, the missus would divorce me if I was breeding mosquitos in the house, so I poured it all out (outside drain), scrubbed the bucket, and started again. I used to torch at night and a turkey baster to 'suck out' a whole bunch of pods, which I used to re-start the culture bucket. Hopefully I didn't reintroduce anything nasty