Little black and white bugs.

[AFHokie]

My tank has jsut passed 6 months and the biodiversity has exploded. My latest observation were these tiny black and white specks crawling all over the rock and some coral. I snatched a few and put them under the scope. Any idea what these are? Hopefully not something bad but knowing my luck they will be.

Scope is as low as it will go, 100x, so I had to take multiple shots to get the whole thing.

 

[AFHokie]

black and white bugs.. need to know if good or bad!

Ok, so in the middle of the photo is a little oval black and white bug, some seem to have a trailing back end. I will also try to upload a video.

www.reef2reef.com

So I found this thread from back in 2017 and the photo posted by @vic6278 in 2019 looks identical but no resolution or answer as to what it is. Another post suggested ostracods but under the scope I don’t think they look like pics I see online at all.

 

[WheatToast]

My guess is ostracods. These can be highly variable and are harmless pods.

 

[AFHokie]

My guess is ostracods. These can be highly variable and are harmless pods.

Thanks. After watching some different YouTube videos and seeing the variety I am leaning to that as well. I have a video of them moving in a Petri dish and they definitely look like ostracods.

I think my slide cover probably squished and distorted their appearance but you can see on of the leg appendages sticking out of the side.

 

[AFHokie]

Got the vid onto YouTube

Ostracods From My Reef Tank

youtube.com