My livestock is covered in bugs!!!!

[GigaFish]

Hello everyone,

I hope someone can help me figure out what is happening fast. I have a hermit crab that is usually moving all over the tank and is very active but lately he has been deep in his shell showing no activity at all unless I move him then he comes out to see whats there and then goes back inside. I just added some live rock and 3 turbo snails yesterday. This morning I woke up to find that all three snails had fallen off the glass and lay there dead on the bottom of the tank. I didnt know if they were dead or not so I left them in there during the day. When I came home tonight, I noticed that if I get up very close to the snails, I can see little bugs crawling all over the snails very rapidly like little white and yellow ants. I see them on the glass now, the substrate, I see them randomly on my lionfish's skin also. My lion seems to be jerking forward and shaking his body alot as well. I dont know what to do. Does anybody have any idea what this could be and how to resolve it?

Please Help!

 

[Hattie B]

HI GigaFish

How long have you had this tank?

I would first say that if you saw bugs all over the place they are prbably more then likly pods of some sort.

However, since you said they are crawling on yor lion that is another story..

How big are they?

 

[GigaFish]

I have had the tank for about 3 months now. It came with my lion, marine betta, and purple tang. I added the live rock (5lbs 2 weeks ago, and 6lbs yesterday so far), the hermit crab, and the snails.

I am still learning and dont know what pods are. ???

As far as the lion, they are not crawling all over him, I just saw one or two things that were about the same size go skimming across his skin but I could be imagining things out of excitement.

These things are almost microscopic in size. I cant make out anything but little lines (Yellow,white and black) moving all over the snails and glass around the snails. I can only see them with a flashlight.

 

[Hattie B]

HI GigaFish,

I think you are in luck..

Look here, I bet you have some of these, which is a good thing. Think of it as free fish food and good for the tank in general.

Go to the link below, and look at Pods, Bugs and more and see if there is one that resmebles something that you see..

http://melevsreef.com/id/

edit; those pictures are big to so you can see the critters, they wont be that size.

 

[GigaFish]

They are so small and its hard to tell. ( I wish I had a magnifying glass) but they look like they are carrying a little white egg or something so I am going to say they look like a copepod.

But would a copepod eat a snail?

 

[Hattie B]

No they are not going to eat the snail. Unless the snail dies.

If the tank is newer and has live rock they are probably pods.. I see them all over my tanks too.. Especially, If you see them at night with a flashlight, a lot of them come out of the rockwork at night..


If the snails fall over, some of them cant right themselves back up so sometimes you have to help them out (I learned that after I lost some a long time ago.. LOL)

 

[GigaFish]

Well I hope that is what they are. Thanks for your help. I will get a magnifying glass tomorrow to prove to myself that they are what they are.

I just noticed that on my tank, I have black sealant on my seams where the two pieces of glass meet. There are hundreds of them running up and down those seems.

 

[Hattie B]

I am almost postive (even without a pic) that it is some kind of pod.

That is good a healthy population will be good food for the tank and overall makes for a nice healthy one.

 

[Hattie B]

I am almost postive (even without a pic) that it is some kind of pod.

That is good a healthy population will be good food for the tank and overall makes for a nice healthy one.