Who Gives A Fish Forums

I'm curious, graye, is your view on these tiny critters being a sign of a healthy environment a common one? I've never come across any info on unknown organisms outside of, say, some remote jungle.

Gary's views might be more widely shared than you think, anglerman. The truth is, the smaller stuff often gets overlooked. If it's not edible or deadly, who's funding the research? I'd bet there are unidentified organisms on you right now. Bacteria, for instance, are the most abundant form of life, and we've only scratched the surface of identifying them.

Insects and other invertebrates? The consensus is that millions of species remain unknown to science. Even in our tanks, we're likely harboring unidentified species. I've got three species of fish in my tank right now that don't have official names or descriptions - a rainbowfish, a killifish, and a Cichlid. Over the years, I've probably kept 50 or more undescribed fish species. My time working with a fish importer was an eye-opener; we regularly encountered species that didn't have a scientific name.

Take Corydoras, for example. There's an incredible amount of diversity within that genus that we haven't even begun to sort out. Many species will likely be gone before we even discover them. In 2016, 18,000 new plant or animal species were described, but the more we explore, the more we realize how little we know. It's a humbling reminder of just how much is still out there waiting to be discovered.

anglerman said:

Are your fish tank-bred, rather than wild caught?

Floating plants can handle being fully submerged for over a week, so here's what I'd try: take a few of your best plants and put them in a container with tank water. Cover them with a wire screen to keep them underwater. Then, remove all the floating plants from the main tank. Hopefully, the bugs will die off without any floating plants around. And if any are on the submerged plants, they should die too. Once you're sure the bugs are gone, you can put the submerged plants back in the main tank.