White little bugs on monti

jourspacedan · Dec 18, 2023

Would appreciate an ID on these small white critters on my clown car monti. Are they pests or are they harmless? The monti has been with me for a while and haven't seen anything wrong with it, just got a bit scratched coz of the tweezers.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Dec 19, 2023

Interesting shape to those guys. Any chance you could get one under a microscope?

jourspacedan · Dec 20, 2023

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Interesting shape to those guys. Any chance you could get one under a microscope?

Unfortunately I don't have a microscope. Hopefully, these things are harmless.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Dec 20, 2023

jourspacedan said:
Unfortunately I don't have a microscope. Hopefully, these things are harmless.

Any pods that climb over a coral like that would be suspect in my book, but not necessarily bad; I'd suggest keeping an eye on it for any damage/irritation.

My best guess based on the shape without closer pics is some kind of Valviferan isopods, which would be harmless/beneficial.