New Critters

[simong6]

the other morning i noticed some hairly legs poking out from a hole in my lr and didn't recognise them.

i thought that they belonged to my cleaner shrimp but it seems to have disapeared.

anyway last night after i had killed the lights on my tank i noticed something moving around.. something small

flicked the light back on and there was a small thing scurrying around my lr, it looked shrimpish, small, white and curled up, it isn't the most attractive critter in the world and when i flicked the light on this morning there were a couple more srurrying around and there is a shell casing lying around so what ever they are they are growing

does anybody know what they are from my amazing description?

also there is another critter in the back of my lr, also comes out at night its about 2 inches long, a green colour with a black band around the top it stays in the same place and just extends out of the hole, then when the light is turned on slowly contracts back into the rock

 

[SkiFletch]

How big are the first shrimpish looking things? If they're really small (like 5mm) they could be amphipods. As to the other thing sticking out of the rock, no clue

 

[simong6]

How big are the first shrimpish looking things? If they're really small (like 5mm) they could be amphipods. As to the other thing sticking out of the rock, no clue

yeah they are around the 5mm mark, i'll try to get a picture of them and the green thing

 

[SkiFletch]

try a google search for amphipod, thats probably what you've got.

 

[simong6]

try a google search for amphipod, thats probably what you've got.

yeah i tried a google search and they looked similar, but i couldn't see anything that matched exactly, they match the description though, and the first site that i looked on mentioned some of them being paracitic

are they good for my tank?

how do i get rid of them?

 

[mantis147]

Mandarins eat pods. The other thing you mentioned is some type of worm i have similar in my tank the only come out at night. I think they are harmless though!

 

[SkiFletch]

MOST pod life is beneficial to your tank. SOME (most notably isopods) can be parasitic towards inverts and corals. Isopods rarely attack fish cause the fish will just flick them off their side if they do . They sometimes go after corals or other soft bodied inverts. Best way to handle them is to just keep an eye on them especially at night. If they're found on your corals of soft bodied inverts, you have a few predatory options. Mandarins are great hunters of pods for sure, but they're pod-only hunters and when they exhaust all the pods from your tank they run a high risk of perishing. Dottybacks (pseudochromis), especially the springer's pseudochromis prey on pods AND accept common foods. I see my springer's eating amphipods whenever he catches one out in the open. Fairy wrasses and the common 6-line wrasse are also good predators of pods and will accept common foods as well.

Chances are you've got good pods, so dont go thinking you have to rid yourself of them right away, but if they do become a problem, you've got options

 

[simong6]

thank you very much for your help!!!

i owe you

 

[rhysiboy]

i have things in my tank that are similar that when i use a torch to see them they curl up and roll away into a dark crevice and today i found a shell of one. may of been munched on by a bristle as i saw a 3 inch one last night aswell