Help identifying tiny things.

[urbanraven]

Not sure if this is the proper topic to post this under, but figure someone will point me in the right direction if I'm wrong...

Keeping a reef aquarium is amazing, not just for the things I can see, but for learning about all the things that go into keeping this little slice of ocean chugging along. To that end, I recently became interested in the things I might not be seeing, because they are tiny. So, I've been scraping the sides of the tank from time to time and checking out what I've got under a microscope. It's been fascinating seeing all the tiny things living life, just like the fish and corals that I can see every day.

But I have no idea what they are. I was wondering if anyone might have some answers. Here are three images I took today.

The first one appears to be a nematode of some sort... I think. It moved around a lot. The second image, I'm uncertain of. It was mostly just sitting there, but occasionally would move about. And finally, the third one shows the same things from the second picture, but also a bunch of little oval guys that appear to have a hook at one end. These things moved all over the place quite energetically.

I have larger versions of all of these, and video of the first and third one, if that might help. Just wanna learn more about what's goin' on in my tank. :)

 

[Retro Reefer]

Not a clue what they are but thanks for sharing your pictures, very cool! and BTW WELCOME to R2R!!

 

[Beardo]

Not sure if this is the proper topic to post this under, but figure someone will point me in the right direction if I'm wrong...

Keeping a reef aquarium is amazing, not just for the things I can see, but for learning about all the things that go into keeping this little slice of ocean chugging along. To that end, I recently became interested in the things I might not be seeing, because they are tiny. So, I've been scraping the sides of the tank from time to time and checking out what I've got under a microscope. It's been fascinating seeing all the tiny things living life, just like the fish and corals that I can see every day.

But I have no idea what they are. I was wondering if anyone might have some answers. Here are three images I took today.

The first one appears to be a nematode of some sort... I think. It moved around a lot. The second image, I'm uncertain of. It was mostly just sitting there, but occasionally would move about. And finally, the third one shows the same things from the second picture, but also a bunch of little oval guys that appear to have a hook at one end. These things moved all over the place quite energetically.

I have larger versions of all of these, and video of the first and third one, if that might help. Just wanna learn more about what's goin' on in my tank. :)

Picture 2 shows a diatom
The oval guys with the hook on the end in the third picture are amphidinium dinos.

I also enjoy spending time with the scope looking at all the life.

 

[urbanraven]

lol. Ok, doing a google search for amphidinium brings me back to a thread here on the dangers of dino outbreaks. :) Guess I better keep an eye on them. They're fun to watch though, so active.

 

[Beardo]

Dinos are not good but amphidinium species fall on the lower end of the bad spectrum.

 

[Brad Miller]

Picture 2 shows a diatom
The oval guys with the hook on the end in the third picture are amphidinium dinos.

I also enjoy spending time with the scope looking at all the life.

Nice ID Beardo !

 

[Beardo]

Nice ID Beardo !

Thank you sir. Unfortunately I have way too much personal experience with a smorgasboard of dinos.

 

[Instigate]

I agree with above and the first picture is a nematode.

 

[reef lover]

#Welcometor2r !

 

[rkpetersen]

1. Worms, 2. diatom, 3. dinoflagellates, long chains of cyanobacteria, and more diatoms.

Virtually every tank has some dinos in its microfauna mix. It doesn't mean you're going to have an outbreak.

Welcome to R2R. :)

 

[urbanraven]

Thanks all for the welcomes and the answers. It's fun knowing what all I'm looking at. For anyone curious, here's a couple of videos I made of this critters.



Can't wait to get back to the microscope and see what else is in there. :)

edit: Oh, didn't know the video would embed like that. My apologies if that's a no-no.

 

[rkpetersen]

edit: Oh, didn't know the video would embed like that. My apologies if that's a no-no.

YouTube video embeds are built into the forum software here. :)

 

[Coralmaniac21]

Its ebola.. youre dead

 

[urbanraven]

My apologies for the thread resurrection, but found another cool dude in the tank today. Pretty sure it's a copepod, a descendant of batch I put in when I was starting the aquarium up. :)