slojmn
03/21/2007, 09:27 AM
I was examining some discs with chalice and acan frags from my tank with my mesoscope. I found these black bugs that have translucent-whitish legs. They have 8 legs, four in front portion and four in back portion of the body with a slight space between each set of four legs. The font four legs face forward more and the back four face toward the back end of the bug. the body looks almost round, very black, with a slight lighter corlored rin around the edge. At first it reminded me of a crab shell. They move around fairly slowly and when encountering each other back away and go in a different direction. They are not moving to fast so it is pretty easy to watch them through the mesoscope. I have not seen any swimming in the water, they stay motoring on the rock. I felt they motored around somewhat like a crab. At first I thought they were definately crabbish, but then after further observation they move different. There were a number of them on the exposed skeletons of chalices and acans, rock work, and discs but none near flesh of any coral, lps or sps. I am able to spot them with my mesoscope on rocks close to the front of the tank where I can get good magnification, I can not see them with the naked eye. I checked many corals up close with the mesoscope and found none of these bugs on the a single coral nor could I find egg sacks or anything resembling eggs. I don't have a high enough macro lens to capture a picture but I wondered if others have spied these and where I might find reference material with pictures to try and identify them.
I don't want to nuke my tank with interceptor if I don't need to, I suspect it might work to rid the tank of them, just a hunch. I would try in a seperate container first to see if the interceptor is effective if I decide to go this route. I have not noticed any ill effects on corals but a few of my chalices seem to be slowly receding. This is why I took some of the frags out to see if anything was bothering them, that is when I found these black bug things running around.
All of my micromussas, sps, and other corals appear fine with great color and growth. I have never noticed these guys before and I think I would have in past examinations of corals/plugs/discs. I have a mandarin and doubt that he is eating them although they would definately be in his size range for food. These are definately not copepods or amphipods, much smaller than an amphipod...more in line with the size of a copepod or a bit bigger. I found different size ones, probably babies, juveniles , and adult sizes. Any help or links to reference stuff would be great. I don't think these are problematic but I just want to make sure. Thanks in advance.
I don't want to nuke my tank with interceptor if I don't need to, I suspect it might work to rid the tank of them, just a hunch. I would try in a seperate container first to see if the interceptor is effective if I decide to go this route. I have not noticed any ill effects on corals but a few of my chalices seem to be slowly receding. This is why I took some of the frags out to see if anything was bothering them, that is when I found these black bug things running around.
All of my micromussas, sps, and other corals appear fine with great color and growth. I have never noticed these guys before and I think I would have in past examinations of corals/plugs/discs. I have a mandarin and doubt that he is eating them although they would definately be in his size range for food. These are definately not copepods or amphipods, much smaller than an amphipod...more in line with the size of a copepod or a bit bigger. I found different size ones, probably babies, juveniles , and adult sizes. Any help or links to reference stuff would be great. I don't think these are problematic but I just want to make sure. Thanks in advance.