Giant amphipod?

[Brad Coughlan]

I put a GSP frag in earlier today, few hours later and I go to move the frag and out comes a shrimp looking creature about 1/3 / 1/2 of an inch long, no pictures unfortunately, however I did see some smaller amphipods in the dip container that fell off. I originally thought it was a shrimp as it ran across the sand bed like one, and also climbed the rear wall of the tank. My main question really is could the movement of it indicate it being a pistol shrimp maybe? I have no experience with large amphipods and don't know how they move

Also, it managed to get passed the dip, I used to use Red Sea DipX but I tried a new one and I am not sure if it is as effective since if it is an amphipod, it never killed it. Saw a long bristle worm going up a rock too, not sure if I already had them in the tank before however its strange that it came out at the same time I added the GSP. Might change back to Dip X or try coral RX or something

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[MnFish1]

I put a GSP frag in earlier today, few hours later and I go to move the frag and out comes a shrimp looking creature about 1/3 / 1/2 of an inch long, no pictures unfortunately, however I did see some smaller amphipods in the dip container that fell off. I originally thought it was a shrimp as it ran across the sand bed like one, and also climbed the rear wall of the tank. My main question really is could the movement of it indicate it being a pistol shrimp maybe? I have no experience with large amphipods and don't know how they move

Also, it managed to get passed the dip, I used to use Red Sea DipX but I tried a new one and I am not sure if it is as effective since if it is an amphipod, it never killed it. Saw a long bristle worm going up a rock too, not sure if I already had them in the tank before however its strange that it came out at the same time I added the GSP. Might change back to Dip X or try coral RX or something

Any suggestions? Thanks

Without pictures IMHO it's impossible to say. And yes - many things are not killed immediately by the dip - but they will be dead shortly?

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Without pictures IMHO it's impossible to say. And yes - many things are not killed immediately by the dip - but they will be dead shortly?

Yeah, unfortunately I couldn't get pictures, do giant amphipods walk like shrimps as opposed to jittering around like copepods though?

 

[KrisReef]

Sounds like a pistol shrimp, maybe? Not sure how they respond to the dip you used but having it run away (whatever it was) doesn't sound like it was dead enough for comfort.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Sounds like a pistol shrimp, maybe? Not sure how they respond to the dip you used but having it run away (whatever it was) doesn't sound like it was dead enough for comfort.

Yeah, I had to just tip the other pods in the dip solution down the sink, they didn't die, although I'm not sure if some dips just make pests fall off or actually kill them

Are pistol shrimps necessarily a bad thing? I mean, I'm surprised it came on just a frag plug, it can't be a mantis shrimp can it?

 

[KrisReef]

Yeah, I had to just tip the other pods in the dip solution down the sink, they didn't die, although I'm not sure if some dips just make pests fall off or actually kill them

Are pistol shrimps necessarily a bad thing? I mean, I'm surprised it came on just a frag plug, it can't be a mantis shrimp can it?

I don't like to guess too much, if you didn't see it I'm certain I didn't see it.

Just taking the size of what you described into consideration, could have been a lot of things, but what might we commonly expect as a (common) fast-moving hitchhiker? The other one that came to mind is a giant ectoparacyte but I doubt that would show up on a coral frag.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I don't like to guess too much, if you didn't see it I'm certain I didn't see it.

Just taking the size of what you described into consideration, could have been a lot of things, but what might we commonly expect as a (common) fast-moving hitchhiker? The other one that came to mind is a giant ectoparacyte but I doubt that would show up on a coral frag.

Yeah understandable.
Are ectoparasites a problem?
I just used my phones torch whilst the tanks lights were off, and I saw it again, it saw the light and jumped, sort of like a hop and went into a cave in the rock, if that info helps

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I don't like to guess too much, if you didn't see it I'm certain I didn't see it.

Just taking the size of what you described into consideration, could have been a lot of things, but what might we commonly expect as a (common) fast-moving hitchhiker? The other one that came to mind is a giant ectoparacyte but I doubt that would show up on a coral frag.

Ok thinking about it and by comparing some images, I remember from earlier seeing in the dip solution what I thought was a big amphipod could likely of been an isopod

If it was, I am tempted to say it's an isopod running around, are these a problem? I don't have any fish in the tank right now as they are in a quarantine tank as I treated them for ich, do these affect fish?

 

[Reefering1]

Feed the tank, see if it comes out.. if not, try again after lights out. My experience says that pods don't hide from me. Shining a light at them, yes.

 

[DaJMasta]

What was its behavior like? Giant amphipods exist, but I've got a number of regular ones in my sump that are that size. It may be some kind of mysid shrimp if it's sort of swimming/moving in sweeping motions in the sides, and if it's a juvenile pistol shrimp, it's probably very young and should be nearly transparent. I've seen a half inch long pistol shrimp before, the pistol claw was noticeable even at the small size, and it was almost completely clear, gaining color in the following months.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Feed the tank, see if it comes out.. if not, try again after lights out. My experience says that pods don't hide from me. Shining a light at them, yes.

I fed the tank not long after I first saw it, nothing came out.
Lights went out for 40 mins, so I used my phone's torch and it was there, and it jumped in the air and then dashed over to a cave

 

[Brad Coughlan]

What was its behavior like? Giant amphipods exist, but I've got a number of regular ones in my sump that are that size. It may be some kind of mysid shrimp if it's sort of swimming/moving in sweeping motions in the sides, and if it's a juvenile pistol shrimp, it's probably very young and should be nearly transparent. I've seen a half inch long pistol shrimp before, the pistol claw was noticeable even at the small size, and it was almost completely clear, gaining color in the following months.

When I first saw it, it ran along the sand and up the back panel, then into a cave
The second time I saw it when the lights were off and I used my phone's torch, it hopped in the air and dashed into a cave

When I was dipping the coral, I saw 2 of these fall off (not my image, just found it on a google search)

The google search says that they are isopods, I know there are good and bad types. I am assuming that what I am chasing around in the tank is the same as this. I just hope this isn't the parasitic one that latches onto fish...

 

[DaJMasta]

Most isopods have really pronounced looking eyes and are pretty strong swimmers. While they can walk around, I usually see them preferring to zip around in the water, and they can generally swim stronger than the flow of most powerheqds, whereas amphipods tend to stick to surfaces and run more than they swim. Amphipods also commonly curl their tail under their legs in a distinctive looking sort of shape. Generalizations, but often true, there are also muunid isopods that are flat but don't look as much like other isopods, but they tend not to get that large and tend to walk on surfaces

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Most isopods have really pronounced looking eyes and are pretty strong swimmers. While they can walk around, I usually see them preferring to zip around in the water, and they can generally swim stronger than the flow of most powerheqds, whereas amphipods tend to stick to surfaces and run more than they swim. Amphipods also commonly curl their tail under their legs in a distinctive looking sort of shape. Generalizations, but often true, there are also muunid isopods that are flat but don't look as much like other isopods, but they tend not to get that large and tend to walk on surfaces

I did just do some research and found that the ones with closer together eyes are generally the parasitic to fish ones, whilst the ones with more spread apart eyes are more scavengers

What is the best way to remove these if they are the bad ones? I currently cannot tell if it is bad since I haven't got a picture of it yet, and also my fish are in a quarantine tank currently

 

[Reefering1]

I thought you said it looked like a tiny shrimp? I might assume the ones dropping off in the dip may not be what survived and made it into display.

 

[vetteguy53081]

When I first saw it, it ran along the sand and up the back panel, then into a cave
The second time I saw it when the lights were off and I used my phone's torch, it hopped in the air and dashed into a cave

When I was dipping the coral, I saw 2 of these fall off (not my image, just found it on a google search)

The google search says that they are isopods, I know there are good and bad types. I am assuming that what I am chasing around in the tank is the same as this. I just hope this isn't the parasitic one that latches onto fish...

There are isopods and parasitic isopods. Parasitic will latch onto body and feed off fish'd fluid or get into gills and feed off foods. Mon- Just a nuisance and often consumed by wrasses such as melanurus, yellow coris and lunare

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I thought you said it looked like a tiny shrimp? I might assume the ones dropping off in the dip may not be what survived and made it into display.

I originally thought it was a shrimp until I looked into isopods, which fit what they it looked like a lot more, I will attempt to get a video of it in a minute using my phone torch again

 

[Brad Coughlan]

There are isopods and parasitic isopods. Parasitic will latch onto body and feed off fish'd fluid or get into gills and feed off foods. Mon- Just a nuisance and often consumed by wrasses such as melanurus, yellow coris and lunare

Right ok, hoping they are non parasitic, are the parasitic ones actually a problem? as in worse than ich or something or are they easy to manage and eradicate

 

[Tired]

Just to make things more confusing, mantis shrimp is also a possibility, if it looks like a shrimp but more segmented.

Parasitic isopods are usually easier to get rid of than ich, however, unlike ich, a fallow period doesn't necessarily starve them out. They can scavenge if needed.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Just to make things more confusing, mantis shrimp is also a possibility, if it looks like a shrimp but more segmented.

Parasitic isopods are usually easier to get rid of than ich, however, unlike ich, a fallow period doesn't necessarily starve them out. They can scavenge if needed.

How do you actually begin removing them then? I assume it is some sort of manual method