What on earth are these?!?!

eaglephot

eaglephot

Member
This morning when my light clicked on I noticed that there were TONS of little white specks on the front, back and sides of my aquarium glass! I looked a little closer and saw that they were moving! Are these parasites? What are they?
55 gallon
60+ pounds LR
30 pounds LS
Yellow Tang
Black Clown
Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Red Reef Crab
Emerald Crab
Many blue/red leg Crabs
2 serpent Stars
10-20 snails
Ammonia 0
Nitite 0
Nitrate ? (need to check it)
PH 8.0
Salinity 1.023
CL 2 65 watt 50/50
40 watt blue actinic bulb
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
They're probably just pods! Those are GREAT to have!!!! Look really really REALLY close and see if they look anything like the tiniest shrimp ever or clearish/whitish fleas or something. Pods mean your tank is doing really good and they're a good food source for your animals!
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
No, they are little tiny feather duster worms. In my book I have there is a whole page on them. It says
Spirorbis Spp.
Spiral Tube feather dusters (spirorbids)
Max size about .25 inches in diameter
Range Tropical Seas
Foods and feeding: feed on particulate organic material and phytoplankton. Propably survive on dissolved nutrients in many tanks.
Reef compatibility. Harmless
These are the tiniest of all the feather duster worms and they make their way into into virtually all marine aquariums. Tubes are usually spirally coiled and often first spotted on the walls of the tank. The minuscle crown is generally brilliant red or blaze orange but are difficult to see due to their small size.
yadda yadda yadda
I just use my magfloat and scrape them off the front glass, everywhere else I just leave them be.
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
He said they're crawling around on the glass and came out at night. Nope, I still vote that it's pods!!
Anyone wanna weigh in?
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
I just edited my post.. he said they were moving.. not crawling around.. and I will post a picture shortly so you can see if they are the feather dusters.
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
Probably the reason they say they came out at night is because the actinic light makes it easier to view them. I cant tell if there are any on my front glass of my tank until my actinic lights kick in then I put the mag float to work :)
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
I know I know I know, got that book, read it and read it... :hilarious So we've got:
pods: 1
feather dusters: 1
spirobid worms: 1
I stand firmly behind my original vote. They came out at night in large enough numbers to be called "TONS", the feeling I got from reading the original post is that they are even much tinier than either FDs or spirobids, and by "moving" I get the picture of "crawling around". Call it gut instinct, female intuition, or plain ole voodoo if ya like!

C'mon, we need more votes and finally for Eaglephot to come give us more info so we can pin it down better!! Who wants to judge? Gotta be someone good...Ophiura? Thomas? What do the winners get????? :jumping:
:jumping:
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
Originally Posted by DaneDodger
I know I know I know, got that book, read it and read it... :hilarious So we've got:
pods: 1
feather dusters: 1
spirobid worms: 1
I stand firmly behind my original vote. They came out at night in large enough numbers to be called "TONS", the feeling I got from reading the original post is that they are even much tinier than either FDs or spirobids, and by "moving" I get the picture of "crawling around". Call it gut instinct, female intuition, or plain ole voodoo if ya like!

C'mon, we need more votes and finally for Eaglephot to come give us more info so we can pin it down better!! Who wants to judge? Gotta be someone good...Ophiura? Thomas? What do the winners get????? :jumping:
:jumping:
correction...
1 pods
2 feather dusters/spirobid worms (same thing notice the top of the book its under feather dusters)
SCOREBOARD we're winningggggg
:cheer:
:cheer:
gotta love this forum
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
Nuh uh nuh uh nuh u...ooooohhhhh poop soup! I think you may be right
But my powers of female intuition and psychic empathy will win in the end! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Pods: 1
FD/spirobid: 2
Dangit someone get in here and back me up!!!!
 
eaglephot

eaglephot

Member
LOL! This thread wasn't supposed to be a contest. LOL!
:hilarious
They are not the things in the picture. They are pods. I looked it up after you said copepods and found that they are indeed pods. So... Dane is the winner.
Thank you all for the help! :cheer:
 
unleashed

unleashed

Active Member
either way they are good for your tank you will see less of them when excess waste is depleted the more waste present in the water the more pods will be seen
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
Woohoo!!! So what'd I win??? Let's see I want a horse and a 500 gallon aggressives tank and a few nano tanks and a new car and a nice little house waaay out in the country on 30+ acres and my own saltwater pet store and...well I guess that'll be enough for now! I'm not a high maintenance kinda gal. :hilarious
Seriously though, neither one, pods or tiny feather dusters, are harmful in any way so you were safe and pods really are a great thing to have! Congrats!
 
clown123

clown123

Active Member
i the same there deffinatly PODS not baby feather DUSTERS i have both and feather dusters come out and have the thing DUHHHHH i think he would have said that!
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
It sounds like they'd be so tiny the crowns might be easy to miss, especially if the crown wasn't out or he didn't know what he was looking at/forgot to mention it/whatever. Don't spoil the fun by getting snarky. Either was a good guess with the info given.
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
Thank you thank you.. I thought my guess was pretty good.. but not good enough though.. and buddy just relax.. we are all having fun... anywho congrats dane.. your prizes are in the mail
 
T

thomas712

Guest
So after you click the lights on do they most of them wind up dissapearing?
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
Thank you thank you.. I thought my guess was pretty good.. but not good enough though.. and buddy just relax.. we are all having fun... anywho congrats dane.. your prizes are in the mail
Yesssssssss!!!! All the stuff I ever wanted on it's way!! Jeez what will I have to work for anymore???? Hope shipping wasn't TOO much on some of those! :hilarious
It WAS fun and it wouldn't have been without you, N_Sarno so thanks :joy:
You know, for the longest I've been moaning about not having pods. I mean it's 130 gallons with great water parameters, loads of liverock, going for over a year now... My tank is better than those at work and those tanks have pods AND spirobid worms!!
Then one day my sweetie poured a load of cold water in on one end of the tank
Next morning I found my poor lil emerald crab dead, went to fish out the shell, and whattaya know!! It was CHOCK FULL with pods! They must've just been good hiders! At least you've SEEN them and know they're there
 
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