what are these? gnats???

[mujtba]

i have little gnat looking type things on the surface of my water... they seem to swim around all on the top and many are dead.. i thought it was gnats at first being attracted to the lights, but its my livin room and its winter! this is something inside the water.. any idea what it is? too small to take pics..
is it harmless??
:notsure:
parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024-25

 

[mujtba]

wow. so i have something no one has heard of!!!!
:scared:

 

[mujtba]

?

 

[clarkiiboi]

I heard of mosquitos (sp) laying larvea in tanks, I know its winter, but a possiblity and a bump---I am curious also. Maybe Bang will jump in...Can you give a better description or are gnats "hitting the nail on the head"? Do you see little wings also?

 

[mujtba]

well it seems no one experienced this. So I will educate everyone on what I have:
I believe they are Hexapods. A specimen of a marine insect, Pontomia, from a coral reef aquarium. These skim the water's surface and are quite small, about 1 to 2 mm long. They are naturally found in shallow water regions of the Southwest Pacific Ocean.
I don't think they are harmful. So far they haven't seemed to stress my tank.

 

[clarkiiboi]

I'm sure someone here has, that is why I bumped you. Thanks for the quick overview though, seems you did some research. Maybe now someone can give you alittle more info on hexapods and the pros and cons from experience.

 

[wayneshine]

If you have houseplants in the same room or close to your tank these could be gnats from the soil in the plants. They come in store bought soil and seem to hatch whenever you tend to overwater the plants. They are harmless but do make kind of a mess. Try cutting back on watering of plants or possibily a quarter to half inch layer of fine sand on top of planter soil.

 

[mujtba]

No it isn't gnats or anything from plants, it is Hexapods. They are harmless as far as I know. They skim the surface.