ID help please!!!

[justin1977justi]

I am not new but have been out of the hobby for several years. I am setting up a new tank and found these in a hydrometer that was on the glass to keep an eye on salinity flucuations. The only thing in the tank right now is some of my old live rock that i had in the sump of my mother in laws tank. Any idea what these are? The tail portion moves back and forth.

 

[mcgyvr]

Did they come from the tank? Amphipods?

Are they just mosquito/bug larva from just laying around the house?


You would need to get clearer pictures.. I can't see the details well enough

 

[TangingOut]

Looks like mosquito larva.

 

[JWClark]

Looks like mosquito larva.

Mosquito pupae actually. My first guess would be Aedes solicitans, the salt marsh mosquito. Are you on the coastal plain?

 

[mcgyvr]

zika... RUN...or just don't get knocked up

 

[JWClark]

Funny. Working on this month's Army Zika vector surveillance report as we speak. Wouldn't worry about these guys too much. Now, if they were Anopheles melas and we had falciparum malaria here then I would say run. A disease to actually be afraid of.

 

[justin1977justi]

I didn't even think about mosquitoes. I live just outside of Atlanta. I wouldn't think that there would be a mosquito that could live in saltwater in this area. They do look like them but dont really act like them. I have mosquito larvae all the time outside and these don't act anything like those do.

 

[JWClark]

Mosquito larvae and pupae act different. Keep them until they hatch out. They are either mosquitoes or midges--another primitive fly that looks similar to mosquitoes but without biting mouthparts.

Several Culex species can live in sewage pits so it doesn't surprise me that they can survive salt water but this is a by species ability. For Culex though you'd have to have some pretty nasty water high in organic matter.