Frozen brine hatch in tank?

[Nickelcityreef]

So I picked up a bag of frozen Brine shrimp to feed my fish for the 1st time. They loved it. That was 3 days ago. Now yesterday I noticed these itty bitty tiny white specs all over the glass. So I just kinda wiped them off with my magnet cleaner and let nature take its course. Well this morning they were back & noticed THEY MOVE!. :eek2: They dont look like pods so I can only think they are baby Brine that hatched after feeding time being that its the proper temps, water flowing, and correct salinity. If you look at them veeeeery hard they seem to have the shape of brine with the little tails. Now I have Hundred of these "bastards" swimming around and on the glass. Is this possible? to hatch from frozen package? What should I do. Leave them be and let them get eaten eventually, or is it bad for my aquarium too have so many and how do I get rid of some so as not to harm my fish crabs and snails? thanks in advance for you help. :

 

[TheH]

I would say that it is something else spawning in your tank coincidentally. Frozen brine shrimp eggs are not viable from what I know.

 

[downhillbiker]

I think you could easily hatch them in the display, if they aren't filtered out first. I know that for a while I was feeding brine shrimp to my fish all the time. They started multiplying in my aquarium. They reduced the pod population that came out during the day, because they are so much faster and more agressive. They dont hurt anything, and I think the pods were still there, just scared...

You cant do anything about it, dont worry, just let your tank take its natural course.

 

[Nickelcityreef]

Thanks for the info Downhillbiker.... It looks like you were right. I took out my kids microscope and a water sample and the physical resemblence of brine shrimp is there, antennae and all. I did more research and found this.

"Brine shrimp eggs are metabolically inactive and can remain in total stasis for several years while in dry oxygen-free conditions, even at temperatures below freezing. This characteristic is called cryptobiosis meaning "hidden life" (also called diapause). While in cryptobiosis, brine shrimp eggs can survive temperatures of liquid air (-190 C/ -310 F) and a small percentage can survive above boiling temperature (105 C/ 221 F) for up to two hours. [2]
Once placed in water, the cyst-like eggs hatch within a few hours"

So it matters not that they were frozen Turns out they will survive frozen and come "back to life" in water. Guess I'll just let them be and see how it diminishes with water changes and vaccuming.

Thanks again

 

[wrott]

"can remain in total stasis for several years while in dry oxygen-free conditions"
In case you missed this part of the explanation, the eggs have to be dry, not in a mass or cube of ice.
The little mysid shrimp or pods have probably always been there, you just happened to notice them.
Raising brine shrimp to adulthood is difficult from what I've heard.

 

[Nickelcityreef]

Yeah but literally not see them at all for 6-7 mths and then just like that overnight, there are hundreds of them all at once? a day after feeding Brine for the 1st time?

 

[wrott]

That is strange, when I hatch BBS they are free swimming and eaten w/in a few minutes by everything. Maybe I need to take a closer look at my tank.

 

[fishkid6692]

theres no way the frozen brine shrimp hatched in your tank. i have the white spec on my glass too. it's pod napauli i believe. there good for your tank. sometimes it takes a while for you to see them. i see them one day and then there gone the next. you might have missed them before. BUT again there is absolutely NO way it's brine shrimp that hatched from the frozen food.

 

[iamwrasseman]

brine takes about 23 hours to hatch at 81 degrees . it is 100% dead when frozen and has no chance of hatching once frozen . your seeing something else in your tank and they are probably pods IMO . have you introduced anything new lately? they could of been "hitchikers"on the newbie .

 

[waldomas]

Could be that the frozen brine provided the proper nutrients for the "white specs" to proliferate. There always seem to be different things that wax and wane from day to day especially when you change your routine.

 

[iamwrasseman]

yes it may be true

 

[Tadashi]

Are you sure you are not looking copepods. There are three species that thrive in our tanks and one of them looks like a minature brine almost. However, baby brine do not look like the adults.

 

[iamwrasseman]

yup its probably pods 99%

 

[ludnix]

Copepods are the tiny, white specs with 2 antennae, amphipods are the larger brown-white creatures with many legs and are usually in the .5 - 3mm range. Both of these are "pods" but a lot of times people are just thinking of the larger more visible amphipods, not the small copepods you can occasionally find on the glass.

Newly hatched brine shrimp are not usually white, but rather kind of brown/orange with feathery appendages and possibly an egg yolk depending on how recently they were hatched.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I believe that you are actually seeing mysis(d) shrimp. I could see how they could be mistaken for brine, but frozen brine isn't going to hatch -- and doubt there would be any eggs in there anyways.

 

[Nickelcityreef]

I think you guys are right about the pods. Its not brine. I looked again under the microscope its not brine. I believe they are copepods. as Ludnix said, "tiny white specs with 2 antennae". thats exactly what im seeing. In hind sight I do remember seeing some sort of pods 7mths ago when I had no fish and just live rock and cycling, but never saw anything since. so naturally worried. Waldomas, good call, It might have something to do with the nutrient introduction of the frozen brine and I DID introduce a new Peppermint Shrimp 3 weeks ago......

 

[Nickelcityreef]

What critter or friendly fish can I introduce to help regulate these pods dont get out of control too much? I was looking to get a 6 line wrasse. Any suggestions?
BTW thanks everyone. you all have been great.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Do they look at all like the following picture?

What size tank, and what all do you have in there? 6 lines can be a bit on the mean side. Plus, the pods aren't harming anything and are good for your tank. Their population will explode at first -- they will seem like they are everywhere. But, then the population will die back to the carrying capacity of your tank.

 

[Nickelcityreef]

Todd. Its a 40G. I have 1 Tomato Clown. 1 YT Damsel. 1 Peppermint. A few Hermits, and 2 Turbo Snails. I recently replaced my filter media and did a water change. 3 days ago I started feeding the Brine to see if they like it. They don't look like the picture. They have 2 antennae and a tail, similar to brine or mysid. It seems like they just exploded as you said, so hopefully they will die back a bit. Will the wrasse be too much for this tank? I was thinking to add that and maybe some sort of Goby or Blenny, maybe a few more inverts and a few coral over the next year or so.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Bio-load wise it wouldn't be too much. But might be some issues with the clown and YT. Does the tank have an open top? 6-lines are jumpers.

I thought I had a picture of some of my mysis(d), but I couldn't find it. But, it sure sounds like them.