Tiny bugs everywhere. Is this normal?

[rmorris_14]

Hey! Probably a dumb question but here goes. Haha. My new evo 13.5 tank less than a month old is filled with these tiny white bugs that are EVERYWHERE. Like seriously SO many it’s all I can see when I’m looking into the tank at times. All over the glass and the sand bed. Maybe it’s just because i don’t know if it’s normal. The tank was cycled with bactiv8 and then some fritz zyme 9. Currently and has ever only had snails and hermits. Here is a video of the bugs.
I don’t see this in my display tank. At least not in the insane numbers as this one. Is this totally normal?
https://youtube.com/shorts/oTO7LuRSVBk?feature=share

 

[SeaDøøby]

Copepods: harmless filter feeders and fish food.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Hey! Probably a dumb question but here goes. Haha. My new evo 13.5 tank less than a month old is filled with these tiny white bugs that are EVERYWHERE. Like seriously SO many it’s all I can see when I’m looking into the tank at times. All over the glass and the sand bed. Maybe it’s just because i don’t know if it’s normal. The tank was cycled with bactiv8 and then some fritz zyme 9. Currently and has ever only had snails and hermits. Here is a video of the bugs.
I don’t see this in my display tank. At least not in the insane numbers as this one. Is this totally normal?
https://youtube.com/shorts/oTO7LuRSVBk?feature=share

looks like copepods and amphipods. Good guys. Once you get some fish in there, you will not see them as much and the fish will have some tasty snacks.

 

[Pistondog]

The sign of a healthy tank.

 

[SeaDøøby]

No dumb questions but just some dumb answers!

 

[ying yang]

I get lots copepods and munnid isopods on my glass,after lights out is most.
If haven't got fish that actively hunt/ eat pods then will tend to get high numbers of them compared to a dt where more fish that could possibly eat them but very normal

Edit: some more common hitchhikers you may come across

What is that!! A R2R guide to common new tank hitchhikers.

One of the greatest things about starting a reef tank is getting your live rock in and admiring all the diversity within it. The rock comes to life different creatures. This is a guide that I, along with a very well known critter identifier @KJ , have put together for the new reefer on what...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[rmorris_14]

Awesome! Thanks everyone! This will be a fishless tank so I guess they will thrive. It just weirded me out because there are so many it looks like the sand bed is crawl with millions of tiny ants.

 

[Gedxin]

Not that I disagree with the diagnosis...but with a 1mo tank, where the OP claims they did not add anything but bottled bact and snails/hermits...where did the copepods come from?

OP, where did you get your rock/sand?

 

[rmorris_14]

Not that I disagree with the diagnosis...but with a 1mo tank, where the OP claims they did not add anything but bottled bact and snails/hermits...where did the copepods come from?

OP, where did you get your rock/sand?

It was live sand caribsea. The rock was just dry caribsea life rock. I did throw in a couple small pieces of rock from the DT, some coral plugs and old snail shells that has coraline on them. But it does seem to be an extreme amount of bugs for the age of the tank. Any thoughts?

 

[ying yang]

It was live sand caribsea. The rock was just dry caribsea life rock. I did throw in a couple small pieces of rock from the DT, some coral plugs and old snail shells that has coraline on them. But it does seem to be an extreme amount of bugs for the age of the tank. Any thoughts?

Thought is the small piece rock from dt and coral plugs had a few on and they reproduced without anything eating them

 

[Gedxin]

Thought is the small piece rock from dt and coral plugs had a few on and they reproduced without anything eating them

That's really the only explanation I think. Can't come from Caribsea products.

 

[lubeck]

I have a similar amount of pods in my new tank. About a month old. My clowns have started to munch on them

I bought live rock and a bottle of copepods and macro from the lfs.

 

[rmorris_14]

That's really the only explanation I think. Can't come from Caribsea products.

So it’s not possible that they are anything bad?... that’s all I care about lol. My husband said “definitely parasites”

 

[damsels are not mean]

snails/hermits

bingo

 

[rmorris_14]

So it’s not possible that they are anything bad?... that’s all I care about lol. My husband said “definitely parasites”

He likes to push my buttons

 

[damsels are not mean]

Copepods. They are good. Near the bottom of the food chain and almost everything that can find them will eat them. Some fish need them like wild mandarins. Wrasse and other benthic carnivores will love a tank that has lots. Other small crustaceans will eat them which can in turn feed larger fish that don't hunt the copepods.

 

[damsels are not mean]

They're in every tank, fresh or salt, if any corals, plants, algaes, rocks, driftwood, etc. are added from established systems or collected wild. None of the ones that you see on your glass are gonna be the parasites. Parasites don't tend to hang out.

 

[rmorris_14]

They're in every tank, fresh or salt, if any corals, plants, algaes, rocks, driftwood, etc. are added from established systems or collected wild. None of the ones that you see on your glass are gonna be the parasites. Parasites don't tend to hang out.

Thanks! I kind of figured he might just trying to get me going. But when I compared the two tanks one with fish and one without, it got me wondering. Makes sense that the one without, is crawling with them. I just assumed because it was new it wouldn’t have so many.