What are these little dust sized bugs?

[gemini9]

I have very small particles in my tank, they look like little tiny dust particles and I thought nothing of it at first. But I noticed just today that some of them seem to be swimming. The tiny ones are just floating around, but there are a few very slightly larger ones that are actually swimming around in there. What the heck are they? Is this normal? My tank has been cycling for about a month. I just took the shrimp out 2 weeks ago. Ph has been adjusted to 8.2, Ammonia is between 0 or .25 ppm. Maybe zero.. hard I read these things. Nitrite is very low as well. Around 0 or .25 ppm Nitrate is off the charts above 160ppm as far as my kit will read it. Salinity is ok and temp is around 76f. But the little dust things in there swimming around... What's up with that? It's making me nervous. Ideas?

 

[jrbates08]

It would help to have a photo of what they look like or what u think they look like. Could be stony coral parasite. are they fast and kind look like a baby shrimp maybe?

 

[jrbates08]

Could also be copepods better known as Plankton off of spongebob. But without a picture, it's pretty hard to I.D sorry

 

[gemini9]

They are very tiny. The size of dust particles and I never noticed them until a week or so ago. I don't have any fish or anything in there yet. I put in some dry rock from bfs but that's about it. The ones that I see swimming, yes they are pretty fast. This is a new tank setup.

They show up better in the picture than in the tank, but they are all over the place. Most just float around but the larger ones are swimming...

PS I know I still need to stick the background on the tank. It's not on there very good yet lol

 

[gemini9]

 

[Reefing Madness]

Probably just pods, I wouldn't worry about them, they are good far a system.

 

[gemini9]

Pods? Those teeny tiny things are pods? Wow.... scary little critters have me nervous lol. They are only the size of dust particles and I can barely see them. I really REALLY had to strain to even see them swimming. They look bigger in the pics because I'm right up on them and zoomed in a little. Where did they come from? They seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere.

 

[jrbates08]

Haha PLANKTON is after your secret recipe lol

 

[jrbates08]

How long has ur tank been up and running?

 

[PaulKreider]

Are you 100% their not micro bubbles?

If you can strain some out and then look at them with a microscope or magnifying glass, could give you a better idea.

 

[gemini9]

I'm positive they aren't micro bubbles because I'm 100% certain that the larger ones are indeed, swimming in there. The smaller ones may very well be microbubbles because they don't do anything but float to the top and stay there. But the slightly larger ones are swimming. I studied them for awhile. They swim in a jerking motion up to the top, as if getting a breath of air or something. Then hang around the surface and scurry themselves back down (note that they are not near the filter) Soooo small. They are like little dust particles, some slightly larger but still almost microscopic.

My tank has been up for about a month. No fish yet. No shrimp. Nothing. Added cured live rock 3 or 4 weeks ago, added some dry rock from brs 2 weeks ago. Added some API Proper pH 8.2 to get my pH levels up. As for planton, I have no secret recipe. lol Well... I just brought home a pizza.. :-/ and I don't have a microscope.

 

[gemini9]

You know if I reeeeeeeeaaaaallly squeeze in close I can even see tiny little legs... and they aren't complete circles... kinda elongated... most of them probably are air bubbles, but there are a few moving around in there... could they be pods like reefing madness suggested?

 

[PaulKreider]

I never see pods floating around the tank, only ever on the glass/rocks/frags.

 

[gemini9]

Hmm. Any other ideas? Is it anything I should be worried about?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Bitty Bugs: Copepods in the Reef Aquarium by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[TriggerThis]

The Copepoda are a lot bigger.
Those are amphipods like mini Copepods.
They are great for your tank. Go look at the tank after lights out with a flashlight and I bed the glass is covered in them.

 

[gemini9]

huh... Hopefully that's what they are. Maybe they are baby pods lol. I'll look at the tank tonight and see if I see any on the glass. Where did they come from? I haven't added anything to my tank besides dry dead rock from brs.

 

[gemini9]

I've been really interested in these dust particles, microbubbles and Pods so I've been watching into my tank for hours lol literally. I got a look at the back side of my tank... reeeeeaally close and there's this teeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiny bug crawling around on the glass back there. Oooo! There's another one! okay TWO tiny little things back there. Then I looked again a few minutes later and the two bugs were gone. Did my filter suck them up and kill them? Gosh they are so small IO can barely notice them through all the microbubbles and crap floating around in there. What are the chances of these little guys getting sucked up and pulverized by my filter? And it's still bugging me as to where they came from. Surely then didn't come off of my dead/dry rock from BRS... :-/

 

[TriggerThis]

Pumps won't kill them. They could have been from anything. No telling.

 

[DSP]

The Copepoda are a lot bigger.
Those are amphipods like mini Copepods.
They are great for your tank. Go look at the tank after lights out with a flashlight and I bed the glass is covered in them.

You got it backwards bro, Amphipods are the large ones you can see good, Copepods are the real tiny ones that just look like white dots on the glass.Amphipods get way way larger then copepods.