Little circle things swimming around in duck weed container?

[jreidsma]

Hi everyone

I got a group of duck weeds from my teachers aquarium, and I noticed little circles running around. I let them be because I likes them

Now there are a bunch of the little circles, I am wondering if anyone knows what they are? I think they are pretty cool little things, I would just like to know what they are.

They are too tiny to get a clear picture or video of, but I tried:
[YOUTUBE]rGgVVt0Tah0[/YOUTUBE]

They are tiny circles/ovals swimming around and sometimes they land on the plants roots or the side of the glass jar.

There are also some circles that have antenna and a tail, it runs around quickly in jerky motions

I am thinking that the little circles are protozoa or some thing.
I am wondering what they could be and what they might eat?

 

[VictorHernandez]

I cant see the video, but what your describing sounds like a Whirligig Beetle(Gyrinidae).
They eat organisms smaller that they are.

 

[jreidsma]

They aren't Gyrinidae...

They are so small that my camera wouldn't focus on them, they are the tiny specks you can see moving around every once and a while. The larger ones are maybe the size of a speck of sand (depending on the sand)

 

[Aurelia]

They could be Daphnia.

 

[jreidsma]

Possible, they are so tiny it is hard to tell what they could be.

I don't see any appendages on them, if I only still had my microscope...

 

[Tenodera]

Copepods or Daphnia seem likely. When I read it I though water mites, but the video doesn't look like that.

 

[jreidsma]

There are copepods, some of them you can see the two antenna/arms and a tail

Maybe sometime I will be able to get them under a microscope

Whatever they are they are pretty fun to watch

 

[lizardminion]

They could be Daphnia.

Precisely what I was thinking.

If I were you, I'd throw some triops eggs in that container.

 

[jreidsma]

I spent about $50 on different triops eggs, only five of the last ones hatched and all but one died shortly after for some reason. So I doubt I will be trying them again, that was a month or two ago.

I may see about sucking some of the little dots out of the duck weed container and see if I can culture/make a colony of them Or I may just leave them all alone ad see what happens

 

[PrettyHate]

Rotifers are my favorite to watch under a microscope Glad to see I am not the only one who enjoys watching teenie tiny pond dwellers!

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Could your "swimming circles" be seed shrimp?
These small crustaceans don't live long out of water,but their eggs do.
And they have such tiny eggs that most human eyes just don't see them.
Since hatchling seed shrimp are tiny,too they are rarely seen before they grow...
sometimes in entirely unexpected places.

I know.

I have had some here.

---------- Post added 10-24-2012 at 10:50 PM ----------

Seed shrimp are more formally known as "Ostracods."
Since a number of researchers have cultured them under their "Latin" names setting your browser on "Ostracods" may be a more effective way
to find information for culturing them than trying to google "Seed Shrimp."

 

[Obelisk]

The last time I saw small round things swimming in pond water, they turned out to be water mites. This is a good basic guide to identifying the usual organisms found in ponds.

 

[jreidsma]

I was thinking seed shrimp also, but I didn't know if I would be able to see little legs or anything.

Thanks for the link

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Seed shrimp do have complete sets of frequently active appendages...but...their shells tend to enshroud their limbs' activities so effectively that
their "little legs or anything" tend to be difficult to see without a strong magnifier.

When we use only unaided eyes seed shrimps' bodies are so much easier to see that their bodies tend to be all that we do see:
Although...
They are not all that is there.