Snail babies?

[saltyhog]

I have hundreds of these on the glass of my nano (25 gallon IM Lagoon) and thousands on the rock. They are white, tiny and mobile but move very slowly. They are smaller than the tiny copepods I usually see on the glass.

This is a video under maximum zoom on my phone camera (8x). You can see the shape is definitely not that of a copepod.

And a still shot.

I do have 3 trochus snails who have spawned recently but I've never seen babies this small or this numerous.

 

[User1]

While I've also had snails spawn in captivity I do not recall if they ever reached critical mass and did the thing Mother Nature allowed them to do. On the other hand I've successfully had Strombus grazers eggs hatch and become adults. It isn't from a broadcast spawn but rather 10 to 20 eggs covered via a clear gel or cap. 12 days maybe go by and they are gone. You can see them on the glass from time to time increased in size.

I have nothing for you here but if they are snails then cool Who doesn't need more snails. If nothing else shows the maturity of the tank and a job well done by you the hobbyist. Great work!

 

[saltyhog]

I actually raised the snails that are in this tank in my large display tank. Just never caught them this small or prolific if that's what they are.

 

[Shirak]

I have tons of these little critters too. My Nerites make tons of little egg cases all over the place and I wondered if they were from the eggs hatching but not so sure. I haven't been able to get a definitive answer but I don't think so. Nice pictures btw. Maybe one day if I get bored I will have a look at some under the microscope.