Microfauna help

[KhawMengLee]

Hi all,

Over the past few months I started to notice these little buglike creatures appearing on the glass walls of my tank. At first it was one or two but now there are hundreds of the buggers sitting around.

The three main types are:

1) That looks like horseshoe crab but with a pointed head and a visible tail.

2) Looks like tiny ants. The body looks three segmented.

3) Looks like slaters/woodlice.

All of these are tiny as a pinhead but I'm worried if they will effect the marine life in my tank or are they just fine?

Is there a biological way to cut down their population? eg. something that will eat them.

cheers
Meng

 

[The Kapenta Kid]

Sounds like pods which are natural to have and nice food for fish and bigger inverts. Take a look here
http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/index.html
Check the sitemap and look under hitchhiker pods

 

[philbo32]

It definitely sounds like you have copepods, isopods and possibly amphipods, these make up some of the zooplankton found in nature. Most fishes, anemones and polyps will eat them. They are important in nutrient cycling in any ecosystem, feeding on phytoplankton (algae), detritus and many types of bacteria. Its just part of a healthy aquarium. When I first set up my reef I also had hundreds of copepods and isopods. Only after I set up my sump and had a lot more flow in the aquarium and then with the addition of a royal gramma (the first fish I added) they completely disappeared, I now only very occasionally see a copepod as they get eaten straight away.

 

[KhawMengLee]

Thanks for the replies!

Both my tanks are on the small side. One is a 1 foot by 1 foot square and the other is about a foot and a half by two feet. Both use a skimmer and a small filter. So I don't use a sump, I just basically will buy about 25 litres of seawater from my wholesaler and will change 20% the water every 3 days or so.

The main inhabitants of both tanks are mantis shrimps. 1 spearer and one smasher. So fish as a pest control is pretty much out...but I have quite a few small anemones and corals so I think I'll leave it to them