White dot critters, good or bad?

ReefBank · 11/21/2012, 01:20 AM

My tank is on day 14 of its cycle and I'm seeing these tiny little specs on the glass. They are really really small and are stuck to the glass and kind of dart around on it. I tired to take a picture of them but it was difficult because of their minute size.

Are these things good or bad? Should I be worried?

Thanks for the help.

Sugar Magnolia · 11/21/2012, 06:18 AM

More than likely copepods. A good thing!

All6Fish · 11/21/2012, 06:19 AM

Hard to tell from pic but appear to be Stomatella , they are good they will eat algea. You will notice hugh drop offs in thier attendance. In our tanks we go from hundreds to none to hundreds......relax they are good guys.

bnumair · 11/21/2012, 08:02 AM

they look like pods. a good thing.

gbru316 · 11/21/2012, 08:06 AM

I wouldn't worry unless you start to notice bad things happening.

Part of the allure of reef tanks is the multitude of flora and fauna, and their interactions within the artifical ecosystem. Many of us have "ambushed" our tanks in the middle of the night, flashlight in hand, to see what nocturnal organisms exist in our tanks.

SaltyWenStirred · 11/21/2012, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbru316

I wouldn't worry unless you start to notice bad things happening.

Part of the allure of reef tanks is the multitude of flora and fauna, and their interactions within the artifical ecosystem. Many of us have "ambushed" our tanks in the middle of the night, flashlight in hand, to see what nocturnal organisms exist in our tanks.

I keep my flashlight right by my tank. I didn't know everybody did this. Insomnia is my nasty little friend, but getting up to see what's going on in my water world is always a fun motivator to getting up.

ReefBank · 11/21/2012, 10:41 AM

Thanks everyone, this really helped calm me down.

A couple follow up questions:

If I want to clean my glass with a magfloat, will it inherently squash a lot of them? Or should I not be concerned about this?

Does their presence signify anything about my cycle?

Cycle info: I ghost fed for about 4 days but never really saw a spike in ammonia, now my levels are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates about 5-10ppm, pH 8ish. Although I'm only 14 days into setting up the tank, the sump/fuge, and live sand still had a couple inches of water in them from the previous setup, could this have preserved the good bacteria and sped up the cycle? I've got all sorts of things in my miracle mud so I'm not sure how to tell what's going on with the cycle, if its good, or if it never really started.

Thanks again guys and happy thanksgiving!

426Hemi · 11/21/2012, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by All6Fish

Hard to tell from pic but appear to be Stomatella , they are good they will eat algea. You will notice hugh drop offs in thier attendance. In our tanks we go from hundreds to none to hundreds......relax they are good guys.

Definitely not Stomatella.

Most likely, as has already been said, they are one form or another of pods. Nothing to worry about.

funkejj · 11/21/2012, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReefBank

Thanks everyone, this really helped calm me down.

A couple follow up questions:

If I want to clean my glass with a magfloat, will it inherently squash a lot of them? Or should I not be concerned about this?

Does their presence signify anything about my cycle?

Cycle info: I ghost fed for about 4 days but never really saw a spike in ammonia, now my levels are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates about 5-10ppm, pH 8ish. Although I'm only 14 days into setting up the tank, the sump/fuge, and live sand still had a couple inches of water in them from the previous setup, could this have preserved the good bacteria and sped up the cycle? I've got all sorts of things in my miracle mud so I'm not sure how to tell what's going on with the cycle, if its good, or if it never really started.

Thanks again guys and happy thanksgiving!

You can use a mag float with out issue. They are a neat thing you will see in the beginning. When we had our first tank and I saw the pods for the first time I thought we had fleas in the tank. Fish eat them especially dragonetts. What is the highest you saw ammonia? Yeah some good bacteria could have already been present and sped things up. how long have you been at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites?

Dmorty217 · 11/21/2012, 01:06 PM

They are a good type of isopod, can remember the name of them but they are great fish food and eat algae. They will decline once your tank has cycled thru the algae bloom

SushiGirl · 11/21/2012, 07:54 PM

They're copepods.

11/21/2012, 06:18 AM	#2
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	More than likely copepods. A good thing! __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

11/21/2012, 08:02 AM	#4
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	they look like pods. a good thing. __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

11/21/2012, 07:54 PM	#11
SushiGirl Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Fort Worth, TX USA Posts: 8,267	They're copepods. __________________ Visit my Homepage or "My Albums" (via Profile) for hitchhiker pics. Current Tank Info: 55g softy/LPS tank & 20L reef tank

11/21/2012, 06:19 AM	#3
All6Fish Moved On Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Meriden, Ct Posts: 532	Hard to tell from pic but appear to be Stomatella , they are good they will eat algea. You will notice hugh drop offs in thier attendance. In our tanks we go from hundreds to none to hundreds......relax they are good guys.

11/21/2012, 08:06 AM	#5
gbru316 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Lancaster,PA Posts: 1,720	I wouldn't worry unless you start to notice bad things happening. Part of the allure of reef tanks is the multitude of flora and fauna, and their interactions within the artifical ecosystem. Many of us have "ambushed" our tanks in the middle of the night, flashlight in hand, to see what nocturnal organisms exist in our tanks.

11/21/2012, 10:41 AM	#7
ReefBank Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 60	Thanks everyone, this really helped calm me down. A couple follow up questions: If I want to clean my glass with a magfloat, will it inherently squash a lot of them? Or should I not be concerned about this? Does their presence signify anything about my cycle? Cycle info: I ghost fed for about 4 days but never really saw a spike in ammonia, now my levels are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates about 5-10ppm, pH 8ish. Although I'm only 14 days into setting up the tank, the sump/fuge, and live sand still had a couple inches of water in them from the previous setup, could this have preserved the good bacteria and sped up the cycle? I've got all sorts of things in my miracle mud so I'm not sure how to tell what's going on with the cycle, if its good, or if it never really started. Thanks again guys and happy thanksgiving!

11/21/2012, 01:06 PM	#10
Dmorty217 Saltwater Addict Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Vandalia OHIO Posts: 11,624	They are a good type of isopod, can remember the name of them but they are great fish food and eat algae. They will decline once your tank has cycled thru the algae bloom