For a long time I’ve had small populations of tiney little bugs living on the surface of my planted aquariums, particularly those with floating plants.
They are very small and difficult to see, and for the most part they are harmless to my water plants as they are 95% + submerged. However, I’ve started growing more plants that float on and extend above the water, and these little bastards can do a number on them. Little yellowish spots start appearing on leaves, in a few weeks the leaf dries up and dies, and so the decline goes.
I’m somewhat doubtful that anyone here would know what they are, so I wanted to key them out myself (with as little work as possible of course ;)). After spending 45 minutes going through lots of pages but not finding anything close to what I’m after, I want to know:
Is there a web page with a decent identification key to aquatic plant insect parasites?
In case anyone out there may know what these damn things are, they are about 0.6mm long (adults), can jump a few inches like fleas, have a big head and an ass (2 body segments), six short stubby legs, 2 antenae, and a dark stripe down their backs. I don’t think they’re mites due to the 6 legs, and they’ll feed on any kind of exposed water plant - even blue-green algae. They don’t dive or swim, and the adults have a set of long leg-like appendages sticking out from the rear.
As soon as I can ID them and learn what makes them tick, I’ll exterminate the little fuckers in as painful a way to them as I can think of :D. Thanks!