What type of bugs is this?

[vetteguy53081]

I tried to upload a vid, but it's failing. This is a picture of how tiny they are and they cant seem to be able to swim, but run supper fast

Try dipping in lugols iodine or 3% hydrogen peroxide and elevate them to 1/3 part of tank under moderate light and water flow

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey, I have these in my tank. Did you ever ID them or find a treatment to remove them? Thanks!

Here is a picture of one in my tank:

Not sure if dreaded black bug but may be ostracod. Black bugs generally in numbers and often hide under the frag plugs

 

[ZoaJack]

Thanks very much for the feedback. I will try that and see how it goes.

 

[ZoaJack]

I watched some vids on the ostracods. These guys are much smaller and much much faster also. I'll try to find a microscope somewhere and get a closer look. Only my zoas are suffering. Sps are doing great.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I watched some vids on the ostracods. These guys are much smaller and much much faster also. I'll try to find a microscope somewhere and get a closer look. Only my zoas are suffering. Sps are doing great.

I watched some vids on the ostracods. These guys are much smaller and much much faster also. I'll try to find a microscope somewhere and get a closer look. Only my zoas are suffering. Sps are doing great.

This matches your image which is Ostracod

Black bugs generally found on acro coral and in numbers:

 

[ZoaJack]

I agree they do look alot like whay you said. Thanks very much man. I guess it's something else that's bothering them. I'll have to keep looking!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I agree they do look alot like whay you said. Thanks very much man. I guess it's something else that's bothering them. I'll have to keep looking!

There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must. These are ranges and not specific requirements:
dKH: 8.0 - 11
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for. Hope this helps

 

[ZoaJack]

Thanks very much. I appreciate all the feedback. The parameters are stable in those ranges and i feed them from time to time. I had coral beauty that use to eat them, which i did not know about until i caught it nipping on them one day. Since been removed, but im still getting that odd colony that slowly dies here and there and then others that grow uncontrollably. I'll wat until lights out and see what i can spot. Been hard getting hold of rare Zoas all the way out here. Always a bummer when somthing dies.