>Just to muddy the waters, I have swarms of little black thingies swimming
>in some of my tanks.
If you are interested in an identification, I would be more than happy to
have a look at some under my microscope. You could send a small sample in a
small sealed plastic bag containing some aquatic weed or wet sphagnum moss
without any free water. Pop the bag into a Jiffy bag or padded envelope and
the bugs would probably survive quite well. I have done this before with no
trouble..
I would be prepared to do the same for anyone else {in the UK. only} but
please contact me first!!!!!!!!!.
If you are interested please contact me direct for my snail-mail address
Peter Smale