Nasty Bug thing in my tank

I know mooncat had a thing in her tank but this one seems different.
I paniced and squashed it with the net trying to get it out but I have trawelled througfh google looking for a pic of it and this is the closest thing I can find

It was a creamy colour though and about 1.5cm long...

I suppose the big question is, what is it??? Will there be any more of them??? Will it hurt my fishes???

OMG it was ugly

I havent put in any new plants etc for about 6 weeks or fish for that matter... However, I did put in 4 apple snails 3 days ago

Any idea where it could have come from???

No idea where this could have come from, I have introduced many things over the years of keeping fish and never had a insect of this
type before. I breed apple snails also and can say that in my time of breeding them I have never seen insect larvae attached to them before.
Though there could be times when they do get attached as they can with any thing you put in a tank just about.

Looking at what you posted I would say it looked nearly fully grown and you would have thought you would have spotted this sooner,
so could it have got in the tank from having the lid off during a water change.

Keep us updated please....

LJ

True... I have never seen anything like it before. I noticed it as one of my mollies was picking at it so I went over to see what they were doing and there it was!
I just hope that whatever it is it hasnt bred in there and I end up with hundreds of the ugly things lol!

Sadly without a picture we'll never truely know what it was. Given your image and description it could have been the larvae of a damsal or dragonfly, these are predators and can easily kill small fry. I don't think there will be anymore as they would have hatched and developed at roughly the same time.

Other possible larvae given your image are those of the Alderfly, Stonefly and the Mayfly.

Thats good news...
I kinda squished the head end with the net getting it out so could only really go on what the back end looked like so your right that we will never know... I should have been more careful but it was such a shock to see it...
I havent any fry in that tank but I have in my others so will keep a close eye out...
Would I be right in saying then, that whatever it was would have eventually 'hatched' or grown into whatever fly thing it was???
Anyways... Very glad its gone lol
Thanks for the info

That looks like a dragonfly nymph to me..Or some kind of larvae.
Take a look here..
http://www.weloveteaching.com/hopepond/macrobug/macrobug.htm

The pic is a of a damselfly nymph. Dragonflies are much more stout and have no tail or gills on the end as their gills are internal.

They can snack on really really young fry

I study both damsel and dragonflies for my PhD so i get to know them quite well

Well.. I havent seen any more but still keeping a close eye on things...
Would have thought it was the wrong time of year for that sort of thing...
Never mind... Hopefully no harm done

OMG I have found another one
This is so bad...
Im really worried about how many there are in there
Is there anything I can do to kill them???
This is a pic og the one I have just got out... Had a nightmare trying to get it out so it was a bit squashed but got it on a plate for the photo...
Any ideas guys???
What can I do???

This whole thing is really creaping me out...
There must be something I can do or use to kill these things...
I dont understand how they could have gotten in there if they are some sort of larvae... Especially at this time of year...

I would say it's a Dragonfly nymph, I think the only thing you can do is be vigilant and net any out if and when they appear.
Any fish or shrimp that is of an equal size could become a meal, wonder what its been eating upto now

The were probably eggs on the plants you added, a lot of aqaurium plants are actually grown out of water so it would be possible for a pair of dragonflies would to lay eggs on them.

They are really creepy and nasty...
Ive got some young mollies in there but they are beyond the fry stage... Could they be eating the bn's veggies???
Does anyone know how many eggs these things lay??? Gives me some idea of how many there might be?
Also, would they eventually turn into dragonflies then???

I guess if they got enough food to grow into their next stage, they would turn into their adult state
Doug??

just found another one

Hi there,

I had struggled with the nymph that you described, I had purchased some plants from my LFS and the little bug and it's siblings lived in hiding in my tank. I had watched the bug with 3 talans out of its tail catch baby fry head on and eat them.

They are ugly little things and although only about 15-20mm quite scary.

I did my research on the internet and found them to be nymphs or dragonfly's in total I had around 6 hiding in the depths of my tank.

I emptied the tank to ensure I had eradicated the pest.

hope this helps in some way.

Thats the one thing im trying to avoid if I can...
Its a big ole tank and I have nowhere to put the fishes while the new water cycles etc...
They are really freaking me out though
Found 3 so far but Im now so paranoid about it that I can barely stop looking in the tank long enough to cook the dinner