I have Life in my tank!!!!! But what is it????

[steri]

I waited for a month to see signs of life on my LR and I finally saw it.....a lot of it, all at once. Within a 24 hour period I saw three bristelworms moving on a rock and in the sand, and then a couple hours later, I saw a ton of little white bug like things that were all over the glass in my tank. I've read about them before, and what I've read is that they are good for the tank, but what are they??

:confused:

I don't have a pic, but honestly, if I did, it wouldn't help. They are very tiny, and there's a lot of them. They are white and they move along the glass very quickly, IMO.

All paramiters check out fine on the tank. I added my first 2 fish yesterday (2 Firefish Gobies) after a little over a month of waiting (I knew I could be patient ;) ). They are doing great! They seem to have interest in these little white bug like things though. I've seen them try to eat a few of them already.

I assume these things area good sign, I just want to know what they are and what they do.

[papagimp]

You'll get lot's more bristleworms once you start feeding the tank, lol. Not a bad thing to have though. As for the "pods" you are seeing (those little white specs) There are very very good for your system. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes but "pods" is a general term for them all. You want these in abundance in the tank. To keep em around you'll need to dose live phytoplankton on a regular basis. i culture my own photo for this purpose but using a retial purchased product like DT's Phytoplankton is just as good. Firefish will definatly catch and eat all the pods they can, as will many wrasses, dragonettes, mandarinfish, gobies, ect. ect. ect. If you wanna keep the pods around, i recommend setting up some sort of refugium. You just need a spot big enough to let the pods breed and prosper without fear of a fish getting to them and eating em. fwiw, pods in your tank will also increase the likelyhood that your fish are going to act more 'naturally' as they search out there food. Since we all know the fish don't all rush to the oceans surface a few times a day for some giant hand to flop in all the flakes and pellets.

[navajo]

The things on your glass are most likely Copepods and/or Amphipods. VERY good sign and, yes, good for the system.

Sounds good!

[papagimp]

doubt there amphipods. Amphipods are much larger form of pods, and looks more like a larger bug than a white spec. I have a photo of one in my photo gallery if you wanna check it out (look under inverts/coral section). Also very good to have. Bigger bug, means a bigger lunch for the fish.

[steri]

That may be why I started seeing them; the day before I saw life in my tank, I added some live photoplankton to the tank just to see what would happen and if anything I had in the tank (cleaning crew or whatever) would take interest in it. It was the very next day, that I saw an abundance of life come out of my LR.

With what I'm hearing, that all makes sense.

Yay for me I guess!

[papagimp]

wait until first mornings light, before the tank lights come on....sneak in there with a small flashlight....shine it on the front glass and be prepared....

Most pods feed and become active at night, lights out. During the daytime hours though, if you are seeing a bunch of them, rest assured it's only a small amount of the total population in the tank. Keep feeding the phyto as recommended on the bottle. Will help to keep pods around, as well as many other filter feeders, such as feather dusters.

[navajo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8996323#post8996323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by papagimp
doubt there amphipods. Amphipods are much larger form of pods, and looks more like a larger bug than a white spec. I have a photo of one in my photo gallery if you wanna check it out (look under inverts/coral section). Also very good to have. Bigger bug, means a bigger lunch for the fish.

Yes, but BABY Amphipods are quite small... ;)

I have both in my tank and the Amphipods are HUGE in comparison. I think I could make a meal out of some of them! :lol:

[taillonjohn]

so if I dont see these pods in my tank (dont have a refuge), then they are lacking a food (phytoplankton) which I should start to feed to my tank? Is this right?

[patsverizon]

If you have an established tank you very likely have pods even though you may not see them. Try waiting until your lights go out and then look at your tank with a flashlight with a red tinted lens cap and then see what you see... You may be surprised!

[reefshadow]

You don't have to add phytoplankton to grow pods, folks that use it regularily are usually aiming at growing lots of them to feed corals and fish, and have very low nutrient systems that will not grow algae naturally. (but there are some exceptions I'm sure)

Pods will feed on any type of algal film on the glass and rocks/sand as well, like diatoms. If numbers are low many times it just indicates that they are simply being eaten, a fuge is handy for this reason.

I use phyto very infrequently myself, but if dosed correctly it shouldn't hurt anything. Be aware though that it is a food like any other and you want to start slow, or risk polluting your tank!

:)

[mnestroy]

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Click on the above link and then 4th one down on left side, "Pods"

This will give u some photos of what you saw, or might see if they grow bigger :)

More often than not any new creator u discover in your tank is safe... there is always the exception, but much less common.

[SgJsg35]

I think my snake just farted,or mabye my mastiff.I wish I had some little white bugs my six line ate them all.