Unknown Bug found on Zoo's - Eating them?

[nanocube24]

Does anyone have any idea of what these guys might be? They have been found on our zoo's in our tank at work. We have noticed over the past few months the zooz slowly dissapearing. Since then we have noticed these little guys crawling all over the zoo's and anything else around them. A few of our mushrooms have been on the decline as well. These guy's are about the size of a small grain of sand and barley visable to the naked eye.

Does anyone have any idea what they might be?

It does seem to maybe have a shell or hard outer shell. The legs seemed to be pulled back up into the body as well. We watched this thing move for about 10 minutes under the scope. I will try to get a small video clip to post as well.

 

[chris0942]

never seen this before

 

[flyyyguy]

me neither

how big are they??

 

[jessp]

looks like a flea

 

[SINNERMF]

sounds like it time for a dip

 

[geoxman]

I would be interested in testing these things out. I can pay shipping and replace the colony when finished. Did you already dip them? I would be interested in seeing what they might be. Shoot me a PM and we can go from there.
PL

 

[nanocube24]

Well it is about the size of a grain of salt. And yes they do look kind of like fleas but they also have a shell of some sort. We noticed they were able to draw there legs up into the shell or body. They are also covered in hairs.

It is the only thing we have seen on or around the zoo's that might cause any problems that we can see.

I found this online and they kind of look like these but not sure on the size

Daphnia - these are also called "water fleas". These look like a small dot in the water with antennae.

 

[stoneroller]

Look up ostracod, I think you'll find a match.

 

[nanocube24]

Stoneroller they do look like the ostracod. The only difference I see is the hair all over the body. So does anyone know if these can be the cause of zoanthids disappearing? They seem to be found on the slowly vanishing zoanthids.

I did a quick google search but they mention that these guys swim freely in the water. The ones we are seeing are crawling on the zoanthids and rocks.

Thanks for the ID

 

[israelnajar]

Wow, I think I have those. They are acting the same exact way as you are describing. I was also thinking that I need a microscope so that I can post an ID picture of them. I tried taking a pic and all it looks like is a small black dot. I did a fresh water dip on a rock I seen them on and they popped right off.

I had a colony of zoas dissapear in 24 hours I believe because of these guys.



Is this what yours look like? It is the black dot almost dead center of the picture.

Oddly enough they didn't show up until I changed my avatar as well as my title, to bug. They kinda move like that just a lot smoother and uniform and I cannot see any legs or antenna. May I should change it back and they will go a away. :lol:

 

[chris0942]

thanks funny. maybe they will.

 

[650-IS350]

my want to post this in the INVERT forum to get a proper ID and more info from the resident experts there.

 

[ct_vol]

Looks like a redbug to me... I know there are white "red bugs" that bother LPS... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a version that bothered softies/polyps...

These pics were "borrowed" from the SPS forum... Thanks solbby!!!

SPS Redbug under 100x magnification...

 

[Runfrumu]

looks like a mouse-sperm hybrid.

 

[LeslieH]

It is an ostracod. They come in many shapes and and the carapaces range from smooth to hairy, nicely curved to heavily sculptured. This page shows many of the different body shapes. http://home.comcast.net/~fireflea2/OstracodeKeyindex.html The two long pairs of appendages at the left are the antennae; the top picture shows some of the legs sticking out. They're unusual crustaceans because the carapace completely covers the body & is hinged like a clam shell. In fact they're called clam shrimp or seed shrimp. Some are swimmers, others are crawlers, and most can do both.

The various ostracod species have many ways of feeding. A species could be a filter feeder, predator, herbivore, omnivore, detritivore, scavenger, or parasite; specialized feeder or generalist. Being so small it's hard to tell just from watching if they're eating healthy zoas & causing the problems or scavengers on already sick zoas.

 

[israelnajar]

Did you ever find out what these guys were?

I did find out what was killing my zoas.

It was my foxface. He just kept rubbing and rubbing them, once I removed him from my tank they started staying open and started filing in again.

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

looks like a mini saltwater mouse hahahah

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11897844#post11897844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by israelnajar
Did you ever find out what these guys were?

when leslie makes a statement plain as day like this

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11749308#post11749308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LeslieH
It is an ostracod. .

we tend to believe her

 

[nanocube24]

Well like mentioned they do look like some sort of ostracod. We are looking into a few other causes of the Zoanthids disappearing and one that we think might be the cause is the lighting needing to be changed out. Old bulb not producing enough power to reach the lower zoanthids. The Zoo's in the upper portion of the tank seem to be doing ok. Time will tell. New bulb on the way.