strange pods in my sump

[icyuod2]

hi there, not sure if this is the correct forum for these questions. sorry.

recently i've had a huge increase in the pod poulation in my sump. i purchase and stock it with rotifers,mysis,copepods, and theres also a healthy supply of iso and amphipods. (i have 2 mandarin in a 30g tank 100lbs of lr-16months and very fat. i go out of my way to keep them happy in my 40g system)

recently i've noticed a strange new pod in the tank. most are double the size of a copepod.

i took these through a low power magnifing glass (the best i could do, sorry)
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_6863.jpg
the copepod being top right, the pod in question bottom left.

heres a couple more shots of the pods.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_6853.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_6858.jpg
any idea's? my concerns are that there some form of parasite. these have shown up in the last week in huge numbers.
thanks for the help.

[DJ88©]

[moved]

[LeslieH]

The "strange" ones are copepods carrying egg sacs. nothing to worry about.

[icyuod2]

1 egg per copepod?
the group of three are actually the head and torso of the pod
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_6876.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/copepod3.gif
thanks for the speedy reply. i really need a better magnifing glass.lol

[LeslieH]

In the second image the big oval portion on the right is the head (with 2 long antennae pointing backwards) & the thoracic region, after that is a narrow abdomen & tail region with 4 long spines. The 2 sacs of spheres on either side of the abdomen are the egg sacs. Some copepods have a single sac with multiple small eggs (like in your own pictures), others have 2 long strings of eggs, or other variations.

If you go to this site http://www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv/images/moll-i01/h0824b.htm
you'll see a nudibranch which has been parasitized by a copepod which is living inside the 'branch. The two arched pale blue structures are the egg sacs of the copepod.

[icyuod2]

thanks leslie ! panic attack over. i've never seen so many pods in my tank before. every pain og glass,hose,pump and the surface of the water are literally crawling with pods. it looks like i dumped a 50g bag of salt in my 25g aquarium.

the pipefish love it!