Little brown specks

[MaMe]

We temporarily have a breeder box in our display tank and it’s growing algae between it and the wall. Today I noticed tons and tons of brown specks. Super super tiny. They are only hanging out on this algae. When I looked close I saw they moving. We’ve had copepods before but they were white. What are these and are they dangerous? Just need to know how careful I need to be as I clean this.

Ps this is zoomed in 6x. For reference when the video pans right, that is a small suction cup.

 

[MaMe]

Here’s another pic

 

[reef lover]

Look like flatworms of some variety...cant tell which ..

 

[MaMe]

I didn’t know flat worms get this tiny. These things are super tiny. Like 10 or more would fit on a period at the end of a sentence.

For reference, here’s a zoomed out pic.

 

[reef lover]

The way they moved pushed me towars fw. Maybe the #reefsquad knows.

 

[Big G]

Leaning amphipods. Had a bloom of them in my sump once. Looked very similar.

 

[rkpetersen]

Their size and the way they move suggests some species of copepod. But I haven't seen black copepods before, so not entirely sure. They look smaller than most amphipods I've seen, although the color would be right. Most copepods feed on microalgae so the circumstances are a good match.

Edit: At first I thought these weren't likely to be worms but the more I watch them move, the less certain I am. Any chance you can get a couple of these under a microscope?

 

[MaMe]

Ok. After several failed attempts, I was finally able to get one of these suckers on a slide. Here is a video at 250x mag and a pic once it stopped moving.

It looks pretty wormy to me. If it’s a flat worm, is it one of the bad kinds? How do I get rid of them?

 

[reef lover]

Freaky!! Not retrogemma like i originally thought ... @KJ

 

[MaMe]

It looks like it has some sort of tiny tentacles.

 

[Big G]

Looks like juvenile Ovulid Snail:

 

[KJ]

Look like a flatworm. @Lovemyreef2015 @Bob Loblaw

 

[Bob Loblaw]

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