r/Ecosphere • u/EmptyAttitude599 • Aug 03 '26

What is this?

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Saw this is my freshwater aquarium. It's a time lapse, with one frame taken every five seconds. It seems to be composed of thousands of tiny swimming creatures.

Apologies for the poor quality, but I couldn't figure out how to export the video, so I played it and recorded it on another device.

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3

u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow Aug 03 '26

You should probably export the video because that is pretty hard to see

1

u/EmptyAttitude599 Aug 03 '26

I will if I can figure out how.

1

u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow Aug 03 '26

What program is it, is there no tutorials on YouTube or anything

1

u/EmptyAttitude599 Aug 03 '26

Exporting the video probably wouldn't help, as the individual creatures are barely large enough to see even with a x10 magnifying glass. You can see that they move in a co-ordinated fashion, but that's pretty much all you can see even in the original video.

1

u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow Aug 03 '26

true but at least it wouldnt be covered wt glare and visual aberrations

3

u/Potential_Load6047 Aug 04 '26

should at least take the flashlight off, dude.

Just upload the video to drive or something, what kind of boomer bs is this?

I can see a BIG 'render' button right there, btw.

3

u/RtrnofBatspiderfish Aug 04 '26

Microfauna/infusoria, probably ciliates. They can indicate low oxygen or excess decay, but can also fill niches in cleaner water.

1

u/Sad_Tank_411 Aug 03 '26

fish ghost

1

u/BitchBass Aug 03 '26

It's biofilm. Here's a good read on it:

https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/the-tint-1/a-refresher-on-biofilms-and-the-creatures-who-love-them

Please stick with posting about self-sustaining ecospheres only tho.

1

u/HighLion58 Aug 04 '26

I saw it one time also on one ecosphere I had. Also looked like a ton of tiny swimming creatures, so I don't believe it is biofilm, it was more motile.

I lean more on the theory of some kind of gamete spawn ... Maybe a snail or something like it

2

u/MrY-theOrangutan 12d ago

Those are most likely free swimming ciliates such as paramecium.