Red Critter ID (Bugs, planaria, etc.)???

BlueFynn_Ian · Nov 27, 2022

Hi All,
Mixed reef tank with a wonderful amount of copepods growing everywhere. Just found this colony of red things living in a corner of my sump when I shined a flashlight in it. They are moving quite quickly and so far I have only found them in my sump running all over the glass. Apologize for the terrible pictures/videos.

Any help is appreciated.

reefsaver · Nov 28, 2022

Kinda looks like a larvae but I have absolutely no idea what it is and this is why I Reef haha.

sculpin01 · Nov 28, 2022

Looks like a ciliate, given that you can see cilia in the top pic.

BlueFynn_Ian · Nov 29, 2022

sculpin01 said:
Looks like a ciliate, given that you can see cilia in the top pic.

Is it something I should be looking to remove from the tank? So far it seems concentrated in the sump.

sculpin01 · Nov 29, 2022

If they’re not causing any immediate harm, I would just keep an eye on them. They’re undoubtedly preying on something but whether that’s beneficial or not remains to be seen.

reefsaver · Nov 30, 2022

I used to have literally millions of these tiny brown flatworms that kinda looked similar but they all disappeared over time, I think I added coral and live rock and eventually competing organisms took them out, or their main source of food ran out.

BlueFynn_Ian · Nov 30, 2022

reefsaver said:
I used to have literally millions of these tiny brown flatworms that kinda looked similar but they all disappeared over time, I think I added coral and live rock and eventually competing organisms took them out, or their main source of food ran out.

Going to keep an eye on them, I have a pair of wrasses in QT which i'm sure will enjoy them no matter what they are.