Tiny black bugs on filter media!

[Connie]

I did my weekly change out of filters and chemipure and phosban. On the Phosban media bag, there were hundreds of very tiny black bugs walking around. When I say tiny, I mean about the same size as a black pepper flake or smaller. It is impossible to get a photo of them. They have never been present before. This is how I stack my media from bottom to top: blue/white filter on bottom, Chemipure as middle layer toward front, bag of Phosban in the middle at the back, another blue/white filter on top to cover all other media. Only a small amount of water makes it to the back of the filter compartment and these bugs were only in that area on the Phosban. I have googled ostracod and I assume that is what they are. They are black and tiny and crawl...they don't swim as far as I know. Has anyone ever run across this problem before? Will they harm my corals or fish? If so, how can I rid the tank of them? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[CJO]

It's hard to tell what they are or what they might do from a description. Personally, I would wash off the ones you see and not worry about the others unless you start to see a change in your tank. They very well may be beneficial and even if they are not (assuming they aren't taking over your aquarium), you can cause more harm than good by trying to wipe them out.

CJ

 

[Connie]

It's hard to tell what they are or what they might do from a description. Personally, I would wash off the ones you see and not worry about the others unless you start to see a change in your tank. They very well may be beneficial and even if they are not (assuming they aren't taking over your aquarium), you can cause more harm than good by trying to wipe them out.

CJ

I threw the bag of phosban away because it was so infested. I washed everything else as usual and put it back in there. I haven't seen them in the tank.....yet. Thanks for your input CJO.