Creature on Filter

The two oranda's are both over 3 inches as well as the pl*co. It looks like the first picture, Veneer. I just don't like creepy crawly things that I can't ID. Thanks for all the info.

I think I will get it out ASAP. Just in case.
 
I am curious to know how such a creature got in my tank. As I said the plants have been in there for probably 4 months. I live in rural NC but there are no ponds etc. within miles. If I was in the plants why did it take so long to get noticed? I wouldn't think that these things have a very long life cycle form egg to adult. This one was already over an inch long.

Any ideas??
 
Probably an egg on a plant. We have a pond and I see lots of nasty buggers that look a lot like that. I don't know how long the stage is, probably depends on what it is. I know we have some kind of larvae that looks a lot like that which get around an inch.

It doesn't take much, just some bug to fly in and be like "yay, water to lay my eggs in"
But if you only have one, it probably came in on a plant. I'm surprised your fish didn't eat it when it was smaller, or something.
 
Looks like a damselfly nymph to me. With big fish in the tank, it's certainly no threat to them. May be a threat to fry, but won't go after big fish, and says wonders about your water quality.
 
OrionGirl said:
Looks like a damselfly nymph to me. With big fish in the tank, it's certainly no threat to them. May be a threat to fry, but won't go after big fish, and says wonders about your water quality.
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Are you meaning good or poor water quality?
 
Good quality. Most benthic insect larvae are very senstitive to water quality, and one of the first indicators that a natural water is in trouble--all the bugs disappear.
 
OrionGirl said:
Good quality. Most benthic insect larvae are very senstitive to water quality, and one of the first indicators that a natural water is in trouble--all the bugs disappear.
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Not necessarily - surface-breathing organisms (as many beetle larvae and lunged snails [usually Physa sp.]), most oligochaetes, some dipteran larvae, common netspinning caddisfly larvae, and planaria (of the North American macroinvertebrates most likely to occur in freshwater aquaria) are typically associated with degraded conditions.

Does it have but a single "tail"?

How large is it? Are you removing it purely on a visceral whim?
 
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Liz said:
Eeeeeeeeewwwww.... doesn't look good. Definately looks like an insect larva to me.
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I don't mean to sound belligerent, but I always strive towards the ideal of a captive environment replicating the biotopes of the organisms therein as closely as possible (replete with what might, to others, be "unsightly" or "distasteful" fauna).
 
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I know, and in a large environment, and insect or two might meet up to the ratio, and would also go overlooked, but in a little tank it probably doesn't proprtionately represent the insects in say a lake, anyways.

Plus I am scared to death of nymphs.
 
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