ton o bugs

[jackthestrat]

Hi!

Today I was staring at my tank and suddenly I noticed that there are HUNDREDS of little white bug things in my tank. all over my glass, dancing on my live rock, buried in the sand. Some look like little starfish, some look like little insects, and some look like, well...the word begins with s and ends with erm. Just really really tiny.

Are these "copepods"? And if so, where the heck did they come from? They most definitely were not there yesterday, unless I'm daft, blind, or some combination of the two...


-M

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Either Copepods or amphipods, they probaby came out of the rock/sand and started reproducing

 

[NateHanson]

They were there yesterday, but you don't notice them until you start looking for them. It's like those "magic eye" picture things where you stare at it for a day and can't see anything but blue and green fuzz, and then suddenly it comes into focus, and then you can't see anything but watersurfing Elvis. Except in this case it's not elvis, but millions of little tiny water-bugs.

Congrats. It's a sign of a healthy tank.

 

[reefinghabit]

wow looks like you have an established mini ocean at home. they may be copepods, amphipods, or even mysis shrimp they feed on diatom micro algae. they are a natural food for most fish including hawk fish and most of all mandarins.

 

[JMAC]

After ten years of reefing, I am still amazed at the types and amount of "tiny" life I see in my tanks. I am still finding new things even without adding anything to my tanks in a long time.

I keep a large magnifying glass by the tanks to check out anything tiny. It also keeps my young daughter inerested and curious at all the stuff she can see through it.

Joe

 

[NHLIVES]

I use a "toy" microsocope that attaches to my computer via a USB. I got this picture of some copepods.