Red bugs on glass?

[mvandepeer]

I have noticed a growth in numbers of these little...1/32" bugs and most are an opaque red-pink. They gather mostly along the corners and along the bottom. I noticed these in my refugium last fall but now they are in the main tank.
In February I got some zoos and they have been doing great and I have not noticed these bugs on LR or zoos.

What are they?
Are they harmful?
What eats them? lol
I tried to get a pic but they are quite small....

Thanks in advance

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

my guess would be that they are flatworms, but without a pic. can't say for sure. they can be very harmful to corals though, and as for what eats them, certain wrasses do but they won't get rid of them. but i would wait till someone else to chime in and see what they say it is.

 

[mpcart]

Do they look like this?

If so, they are flatworms. Use Salifert Flatworm Exit and follow the directions - dead flatworms can be toxic if you have too many.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

Also, remember to do a couple followup treatments to get any stragglers - otherwise they'll come back.

-Mike

 

[davocean]

My first thought was copepods.
Do they move around quickly?
I got tiger pods that fit your description, and those are great to have.
Post a pic

 

[Paintbug]

sounds like Red Planaria (red flatworms) to me as well. heres some up close pics about 3/4 way down.
http://frontpage.simnet.is/dna/photo.htm

 

[mvandepeer]

I will try to get a higher resolution pic...but camera isn't a supermega pixel beast...
MPCART they are not like what's in your pic. I have had some of these but they are rare..maybe see one once a month but not for quite a while.
DAVOCEAN yes they move around quickly.
The best way for me to describe them is.

Size- 1/32 of an inch long at most.
Color- reddish opaque, some lighter and some darker.
Activity- Some of them "join" together... a darker one and lighter one will "join" together but won't move around real fast... I assume this is something along the lines of reproduction... they are so small I can't see any "funny business" lmao.


My refugium mainly has those pods that kinda are curled up like they have their tails tucked under their butts..lol I thought those were copepods or isopods... I never knew the difference. Those are bigger-1/8" to 3/16" and have the larval stage in the sandbed... kinda remind me of maggots. I know those are good.

Back to the bugs... when the urchin is on the glass the bugs kinda just keep their distance. I have a psuedochromis-dottyback that likes to come right up to the glass and stare at me but ignores the "bugs"... the watchman doesn't bother with them either...

Thanks for the help and if I see any of those flatworms I will definately put them on the extinction list.....

 

[mvandepeer]

bump

 

[BeakerBob]

Do they look like the copepods in the pics below? They tend to be in the darker bottom caves of the tank, buzzing around in the water column.

 

[davocean]

MVANDEPEER,
yeah, it's funny, I was just giving that description to someone else on another post about tiger pods.
Breakerbobs pics look like them, cool pics.
You're stoked to have those.
The bigger ones you described are amphipods, also good.
My mandarin loves both.

 

[mvandepeer]

Nope.. they don't look like that either.
They have no visible apendages.... kinda like really small sowbugs... I tried to get a pic but I just cant get a clear focused picture to see/show them.

Can anyone give any links to a ID site for little critters?
I have tried to find anything but google was of no help this time... still looking....
I do have to say thanks for the clerification on iso and copepods... great pics Beakerbob!!

 

[davocean]

The pics by beakerbob are pretty magnafied.
When I see mine they are tiny, and I can't see visible pendages.
On mine, my sand is still pretty white, so looks like red sand flakes
moving really quick.
I got mine from copepods.com, and they sent me a pic similar to beakerbobs, but they look more like red dots to the naked eye.

 

[slickchick]

Anyone? I have the exact same problem with these red bugs...look like little mites or something and I have no sps.

 

[davocean]

Go to copepods.com
They have a pic of them in bottle.
Little red mite looking things, good description.
I've bought several bottles

 

[mvandepeer]

The pic on copepod.com doesn't look close to my bugs....
I tried for about 10 minutes to suck some of these things off the glass but only got one.... I tried to take a pic of it but yet it is still too small. I wish I had a microscope...even a magnafying glass..


slickchick-YES like little mites... are there two different shades of red/pink ones?

It would be neet to find a predator... free food

 

[slickchick]

Yes, 2 different shades red and pink.

I swap corals between my 2 tanks and in my tank with a 6-line wrasse, I have NO RED BUGS. I think he eats them up for me.

Now if I could only add a 6-line to my infected tank I know they'd be gone in no time but my current occupant of that tank would not take kindly to any new fish.

 

[slickchick]

I cannot get to http://www.copepod.com/. Any help here?

 

[mikey_m2067]

This is the best pic I could get of some I just noticed in my tank.

 

[Fishchronicles]

This is the best pic I could get of some I just noticed in my tank.

This is one of the few that I have found. I have some Acroporas in my tank and they haven't touched it. They seem more interested in roaming the glass than anything. I'm also trying to figure out what they are.

 

[Anemone]

That's good, because back in the day, little, red, mite-like bugs were an SPS scourge.

Kevin