Critter ID ?

[robertchaput]

Looking to see if I can get confirmation on whether or not these are copepods or something else? I added tigrio pods for my mandarin dragonet roughly 2 months ago but they did not look like this. My mandarin is also frozen food trained so these look like they’re multiplying exponentially . They look like spherical white dots that move around. Can’t distinguish legs or head. They cover the rocks, corals and substrate. None on the glass.

 

[rayadog]

Hard to say for me but they are def out in full force. Kinda moving fluidly quicker than expected. I feel like pod pods are more “jottery” and sporadic in their movements; purely anecdotal and not fact. You could suck some out and a get a better look. Can always dump back in if you like what you see. But Literally just pipette or siphon a few out to look.

Kinda odd your Mandarin isn’t controlling them more; gotta be a first. Where did you get your tigrio pods from? (Manufacturer) and is this a small tank?

 

[robertchaput]

Hard to say for me but they are def out in full force. Kinda moving fluidly quicker than expected. I feel like pod pods are more “jottery” and sporadic in their movements; purely anecdotal and not fact. You could suck some out and a get a better look. Can always dump back in if you like what you see. But Literally just pipette or siphon a few out to look.

Kinda odd your Mandarin isn’t controlling them more; gotta be a first. Where did you get your tigrio pods from? (Manufacturer) and is this a small tank?

That’s a great idea thank you! I’ll be doing that once I get home. And that’s what I was kind of thinking aswell, movement and shape seems oddly different from that of copepods. They were Nutramar pods that I added. And agreed, odd my mandarin doesn’t seem to be affecting the population of them. That was another tell tale for me that I wanted to identify these. It’s an IceCap 38g AIO

 

[rayadog]

I know the bottled pods are usually gut loaded and they end up colored or darker than what you see in your tank fwiw. But looking forward to see what you got in there!

 

[robertchaput]

I know the bottled pods are usually gut loaded and they end up colored or darker than what you see in your tank fwiw. But looking forward to see what you got in there!

Ok so I have an update. I was able to suck some up with a pipette and get a way better look at them! If anything, I’m more confused now haha.

 

[GSPClown94]

Hard to see in the videos but possibly some kind of ostracod

 

[Andamaite]

Definitely look like ostracods. In fresh water those guys show up, explode in population, and just stay exploded. It can be great if you have micro-predators, but they can really just cover everything like a blanket. I've been curious about whether they'd be viable for Dwarf Seahorses with how they multiply.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Known as grass shrimp are ostracods. Wrasses will eat them

 

[robertchaput]

I know the bottled pods are usually gut loaded and they end up colored or darker than what you see in your tank fwiw. But looking forward to see what you got in there!

Hard to see in the videos but possibly some kind of ostracod

I looked into this some more and I believe you’re correct! They seem to have the appendages coming out of the top just like the close up of ostracods pics online. Thanks a bunch for your input!

 

[robertchaput]

Definitely look like ostracods. In fresh water those guys show up, explode in population, and just stay exploded. It can be great if you have micro-predators, but they can really just cover everything like a blanket. I've been curious about whether they'd be viable for Dwarf Seahorses with how they multiply.

Thanks a lot for the clarification! That is definitely what they seem to be! After further inspection, I did see my mandarin take a few down and she is looking very chunky!

 

[robertchaput]

Known as grass shrimp are ostracods. Wrasses will eat them

I appreciate the response! That is absolutely what they seem to be! And after watching for another 24hrs, I noticed my mandarin is consuming them after all and she is very chunky looking today!

 

[rayadog]

Thanks for the update and everybody else with the dunk! Learned something today!