Common water beetle

Community and Forum → Insects biology and faunistics → Common water beetle

YANexus, 08.09.2015 14:24

I have no idea where on this forum to go with such things, so don't throw your slippers if the topic is in the wrong section.I think this site will help me.
In general, the bottom line is this: for a little more than a week, plavunets has been living in the bank.Lives quite normally,but the problem is a white formation on the back of the abdomen:
user posted image
What can it be?Illness / physical damage / molt?

Comments

08.09.2015 16:43, YANexus

It looks like a white coating.If you pick at it, it looks like rubber.It's pretty solid and stuck fast.Maybe it really is a fungus.Of course, the beetle does not allow you to pick it and immediately breaks out.
Another question arose: how often do large swimmers eat?Previously, the aquarium was home to medium-sized striped beetles (1.5-2cm in size).But I let them go before my vacation.They ate well on boiled sausage.Now lives one(or rather one, fringed female), but he is in no hurry to touch her for 7 days from the moment of capture.I don't want to lose this beetle,because it's the only living swimmer left in the city fountain.The rest are either dead or frozen and half-dead(we are already cold in Siberia)

This post was edited by YANexus - 08.09.2015 16: 46

08.09.2015 23:37, Hierophis

Thank you all for your help.
About the offspring: this is unnecessary.Keeping the larvae of these beetles is a chore,and even more so in winter.
About nutrition: I will try to transfer the beetle to minced meat or bloodworm(if such is sold here).And then the beetle from the moment of capture refuses to take food.

He's probably going to spend the winter, they write that they spend the winter in the ground.
Larvae I grew from a cocoon only water lovers, it is easy to feed, but only one larva )) they eat aquarium coils, and in general different snails, and the beetles themselves eat exclusively plant rot and therefore, unlike the swimmer, they can live in an aquarium with fish and shrimp. At the same time, water lovers normally spend the winter in the water for as long as I know.

29.10.2017 20:21, YANexus

Taki again decided to turn to the locals
I observe this picture now
The beetle was caught in the beginning of agusta, fed once every 5-6 days with bloodworms (previous experiments showed that if you feed more often, the beetles died from overfeeding)
A week ago, the elytra were covered with a fungus (information about which I have already found). The beetle successfully healed itself.
Since yesterday, the beetle has significantly weakened, lost the ability to stay in the water and was transferred to a separate empty reservoir, where it lies motionless periodically making similar" breathing " movements with its abdomen. Sometimes it "wakes up", moves a little and again gets in place
The actual question is-is this a pathology or an attempt to go into a state of "wintering" ?

This post was edited by YANexus - 29.10.2017 20: 24