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Comment by Paul on October 26, 2014 at 10:50am

I also found a bunch of bugs in my grow bed when the water level got too high and I have no idea what they are or if they are good or not.  Didn't know if this is what you saw or not but can someone please tell me what these are and if they are good or not.  Here is a video of them to show them moving and gathering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCjT1LJXZFQ

Comment by Alex Veidel on September 3, 2013 at 6:09am

I don't think those are thrips. Definitely springtails. I did read that a few species can cause some plant damage, but the majority of them are harmless.

Comment by Keith Barkwood on August 31, 2013 at 11:59pm

At this point I'm about 85% sure they are Springtails. Which would explain how/why they were jumping off the microscope slide. I'm sure they must have been here all along and I just noticed them now.
Thanks Vlad for turning me in that direction. I must have looked at thousands of bug photos on bugguide.net before your suggestion sent me to springtails. The AquaponicSource community saves the day again.

Comment by Keith Barkwood on August 31, 2013 at 10:39am

Here is the link. As you can tell it is right in the room with my system.
I shot this with my iPhone through the microscope at 40x. Not the easiest thing in the world to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsum8I4nV70

Comment by Keith Barkwood on August 31, 2013 at 10:31am

Vlad, I have some video I shit through the microscope. I posted it to the AquaponicSource Facebook page but I didn't see it go public. I'll put it on YouTube and link it here.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on August 31, 2013 at 10:17am

Hey buddy, glad you're back. We will definitely need more info and/or pics on your newly found residents, but you might first do a couple simple things to cross off a few possibilities...

Hopefully what you have there are just some springtails. They like the damp darkness under your media and feed on very, very small fungal matter, and could as such, actually be beneficial to have. (Don't buy into the bogus hype that springtails are harmful...this is being promoted by sellers of pest control for homes...to sucker folks into spending cash...and apparently the bullshit has spread to amateur gardening forums)...anyways, look up or check out how to identify them.

Next on the possibilities list would be thrips, which would be bad for your plants to have, but certainly not a "fish safe deal breaker" by any stretch. So check out those two things and see what you come up with.

Good luck Keith.