Pods? Should I be concerned?

[Dlhirst]

I have a scolymia that is looking a little poorly on one side. I can now see a bit of skeleton, which you can imagine gives me great discomfort.
I put it in a dip batch for about ten minutes, as that seemed to be a miracle cure on the only other coral I have had doing poorly. As soon as I put it in, a bunch of little shrimplike critters came out - maybe a dozen of them. I can't say that they came out from the EXACT spot of the die back, but maybe?

Reading this:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/index.php

I would say they are amphipods. But, honestly, iso? cope? tough to say. Sizewise, they are about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch long. They didn't die from the dip bath, but they did get flushed down the 'loo.

Any ideas what they are? I had never seen them freeswimming in the tank, but my son thought he might have seen a couple in the past. Do I need to be concerned about them? What can/should I do?

[gweston]

I had some of those suckers digging into a mushroom (burrowing into the base for a hideout) and munching on my favorite paly. Are they shrimp-like with almost.. praying mantis-like claws? Mine look like those. Some variant of amphipod that had a taste for paly.

I found a few that had tendencies to be destructive. Once I noticed them, I took them out of the tank (on the paly and shroom), turkey basted them off, and transferred them into a quarantine tank with a 6-line wrasse. They became lunch soon after.

I see others of the same type in my tank, but those are leaving my corals alone. Maybe it was just a behavioral fluke. I'm not sure. In <1 week the 6-line is going into the display tank. So that should help temper down the pod population. The concern then is that the 6-line stays far away from my skunk shrimp!

[thebkramer]

Here are some great hitchhiker links. I hope this will help with ID'ing:
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

[jtrasap]

I'd say the coral started receding prior to the pods beginning their munching. Most likely, they are just cleaning up the dead flesh. I'd be more concerned with tank params than the pods.

[Dlhirst]

Thanks, thebkramer! Those are excellent resource links. I am even more convinced that they are amphipods. But, I don't have to like them! Remind me of those freshwater scuds we go flyfishing with...

[Dlhirst]

Jason, I think you are probably right that the scoly was receding first. Still don't like the little buggers, though if they ARE eating dead tissue, I guess I should tolerate them.

My tanks parameters haven't really changed much. pH 8.2, S.G. 1.024, alkalinity 2.8, NH3 0.25*, NO3 2.5, Ca 400, Mg 1300+, temp is pretty consistent at 79F.

I am still using the RSM kits that came with my tank. They ALWAYS read high on nitrogen. I test at 0.25, and the stores test at 0. Two different stores, many an occasion. So I tend to ignore the "first 0.25" of NH3.

[footballdude2k3]

i am with jt, the params are prolly off if the scoly has receding flesh...