Marine micro fauna identification

[19Mateo83]

I found these little guys in the top layers of my sand bed happily munching along. And ideas as to what they are? The video is taken at 1000x magnification and the pictures are at 500x and 1000x

 

[taricha]

these are a type of ciliate. I've never been able to find a genus name that was a good match but I've seen them in several tanks including my own.

 

[19Mateo83]

these are a type of ciliate. I've never been able to find a genus name that was a good match but I've seen them in several tanks including my own.

I’m assuming they are a normal part of a reef aquarium ecosystem? Are they a good part or bad part?

 

[taricha]

I’m assuming they are a normal part of a reef aquarium ecosystem? Are they a good part or bad part?

good presumably. They would feed on bacteria or some tiny single-cell algae.