What are these guys I found in and around my zoa’s

J.Pelfrey

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I seen one of them coming out of the bottom of a polyp. Like he was inside of it. It would shoot out real quick and grab something then shoot back in. They were also on and under the frag plugs. Some made themselves little mucus looking covers that they would pop in and out of. When I pulled the frags to dip them I seen some burrowing under the tissue of the zoa. What made me start looking closer at them was some polyps were randomly closing and some polyps on the frags would barely ever open. Before all this they all looked very happy. As I started to look closer at the tank I noticed they are all over the rocks all you can usually see is their little antennas poking out of a little crevice and them poping out once in a while to grab something then quickly going back in. What should I do? Thanks in advance for anyone that can send some knowledge my way! I have a pretty good video of it poking out of the bottom of that zoa if anyone wants to see it. Looks kinda creepy.

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EricR

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Most of those look like some type of amphipod to me.

I've always assumed they are completely reef safe and wouldn't harm any healthy coral but I'm not an expert and there are tons of different species so I'll defer to someone with more experience.

I have tons and they've never seemed to bother anything.
 

hllb

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Amphipods. Generally fine. If your zoas are dying though, they may clean up dead tissue
 

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