critters floating in our tank

R&R · 03-19-2005, 01:45 AM

We have hundreds of little critters floating (swimming) in our tank... These things are white and are way too small to take a picture of.. besides that they dont stand still long enough for a shot... They are white and one end is bigger than the other end.. they are maybe 2mm long at the most... We noticed them after the lights went out for about an hour or so.. then we turned on the lights and low and behold.. the tank is full of these little critters... Any idea on what they could be...
In the tank are
1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 camelback shrimp
several pepermint shrimp
several redish brown shrimp
6 feather dusters (we think we have a baby)
3 sea cucumbers
1 tenacle anemone
several red leg hermit crabs
lots of snails of different varieties
2 nudi
1 pygmy angel
2 green chromis
1 bi-color blenny

Our kids say they see little legs on these critters.. but our eyes aren't good enough to see that... Could these critters be baby shrimp???

If they are baby shrimp that just hatched... wouldnt the fish devour them when the lights come on in the morning??? So, in the morning we may not have these white critters swimming in our 100 gal tank.

Thanks for any help you can give...
Robyn & Roger

jennmac415 · 03-19-2005, 01:48 AM

amphipods? copepods? mysid shrimp?

R&R · 03-19-2005, 02:06 AM

how would these critters get into our tank? It was an established tank when we bought it and it has been up and running at our home for 6+ weeks... We only feed frozen food! Hummmm what a delimma this is... We are on well water that is wonderful clean water... The water is a little high on Phosphates but other wise it is perfect water... are aphipods? copepods? mysid shrimp ok to have in this tank? If not how do we get rid of them if we need to...
If they ever grow up, we could take a picture and post it for you!
Robyn & Roger

jennmac415 · 03-19-2005, 02:37 AM

they are in the live rock and they are all great for the tank...it means your tank is maturing...they are also food for mandarins and some other fish do a search for copepods and amphipods you will find lots of info about them these are the things people hope and wait for in their tank. I have 1000s of these things in my tank and I also have 1000000s of mysid shrimp too... have no idea how I got them but they are there.

Hope that helps,
Jenni

R&R · 03-19-2005, 03:13 AM

whewwwww we thought we had a problem... I guess it is time to get my Mandarin... wahoo! been waiting for everything to settle down..

Thanks for the relief!

R & R