Hitchhiker ID Please

[Coolnesscomplex]

Hi everyone, I think I might’ve gotten a hitchhiker on a hammer coral. Right above my new hammer I saw this on the back wall. My wife said it looked like a “ladybug with tentacles” before I removed it and unfortunately I can’t tell if it had a shell.

My tank has two Cerrith snails, two Astrea snails, and two Bumblebee snails. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance you can provide!

 

[WV Reefer]

Hi everyone, I think I might’ve gotten a hitchhiker on a hammer coral. Right above my new hammer I saw this on the back wall. My wife said it looked like a “ladybug with tentacles” before I removed it and unfortunately I can’t tell if it had a shell.

My tank has two Cerrith snails, two Astrea snails, and two Bumblebee snails. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance you can provide!

Looks like an amphipod curled up. If so, good guy.

Did it move like a bug or crawl like a slug?

 

[Coolnesscomplex]

Looks like an amphipod curled up. If so, good guy.

Did it move like a bug or crawl like a slug?

Well, I removed it so quickly I didn’t give it a chance to travel much! It seemed to be able to grasp the wall pretty well when I tried to remove it so I thought it had something like a snail foot. But I agree that it might be a balled up amphipod after looking at some Google photos. Thanks for your opinion!

 

[Coolnesscomplex]

I guess we need to go with my wife’s first instinct - her eyesight is better than mine. She described as “a bug” so I am hoping it is a pod...

 

[Coolnesscomplex]

OK, I’ve verified what my wife suspected last night. The glass is covered with tiny white “bugs” so they must be pods.

It’s so hard to tell myself that it will be OK. It just seems like a big problem!!

Just tell me it will be OK! Lol

 

[WV Reefer]

OK, I’ve verified what my wife suspected last night. The glass is covered with tiny white “bugs” so they must be pods.

It’s so hard to tell myself that it will be OK. It just seems like a big problem!!

Just tell me it will be OK! Lol

It’s great! They are good guys. The population will self regulate.

 

[OutsideBrian]

Could be a small stomatella, hard to tell

 

[KJ]

Hard to tell from the pic!

 

[Coolnesscomplex]

Update: I have discovered dozens of tiny white “bugs” on the glass so I think/hope that these are amphipods. New tank/new reefer so I am crossing fingers that this is all perfectly normal!