Tiny white baby somethings?

dejaknu · Feb 9, 2020

Today I noticed a bunch of tiny, white creatures swimming erratically and hanging/crawling on the sides of my tank. They move similarly to my pistol shrimp but he (she?) is never interested in the sides of the tank, only the burrow. The shrimp is paired with a yellow watchman goby who had been acting a bit strange the last few days (less adventurous, more time in the burrow, less hungry). That said, I only got both of them 3 weeks ago and they are very young.

I also have a bunch of snails and a few blue-legged hermits. A starfish did end up coming along when I got the snails somehow so perhaps this is something else.

They're so small I can't get a good photo of them but I was able to get a video where you can see how they swim: Once they get to the side they seem to be able to walk around on it pretty well.

I'm worried about them getting caught in the filter or not having the right food or if they're some sort of pest (I'm new to the hobby).

Any ideas?

vessxpress1 · Feb 9, 2020

dejaknu said:
Today I noticed a bunch of tiny, white creatures swimming erratically and hanging/crawling on the sides of my tank. They move similarly to my pistol shrimp but he (she?) is never interested in the sides of the tank, only the burrow. The shrimp is paired with a yellow watchman goby who had been acting a bit strange the last few days (less adventurous, more time in the burrow, less hungry). That said, I only got both of them 3 weeks ago and they are very young.

I also have a bunch of snails and a few blue-legged hermits. A starfish did end up coming along when I got the snails somehow so perhaps this is something else.

They're so small I can't get a good photo of them but I was able to get a video where you can see how they swim: Once they get to the side they seem to be able to walk around on it pretty well.

I'm worried about them getting caught in the filter or not having the right food or if they're some sort of pest (I'm new to the hobby).

Any ideas?

Most likely harmless pods. Copepods, etc. There are several different main types you'll see. Some fish like mandarins eat them almost exclusively. Wrasses and basslets love eating them too. The bigger ones have to hide or get eaten. The fish don't usually waste their time going after food that small.