White Things Out Of Nowhere All Over My Tank?!

[herguitarist94]

okay i have a twenty gallon saltwater aquarium with only about 9 small hermit crabs and 6-9 snails as a clean up crew, i got them a couple of days ago as well as 20 lbs. of crushed coral (sand) and 12 lbs. of live rock (already had about 6 in there) and im letting it cycle before i get any fish. but i just noticed today that there where these little white (couple brown) specks and that they where moving and alive! they are crawling all over the glass, sand, snails and live rock (none on hermits, im not sure why) does anyone know what they are??? they are really small, smaller than nats so you gota look close to see them but there definitely there, and everywhere. i have no idea what they are, any guesses???

 

[Del157]

I had something similar in a species tank with Piranha and the advice i was given was they were copepods (spelling) and not harmful but pretty unsightly and were due to the waste food in the water.
You can buy crustacean killing additives that will kill them off however certain fish (piranha) wont tolerate that and i'd assume your tank wont either.

 

[herguitarist94]

I had something similar in a species tank with Piranha and the advice i was given was they were copepods (spelling) and not harmful but pretty unsightly and were due to the waste food in the water.
You can buy crustacean killing additives that will kill them off however certain fish (piranha) wont tolerate that and i'd assume your tank wont either.

so how can i get rid of them?

 

[Del157]

Saltwater fish i,m not sure about as i have never kept them so youll need to talk to a good supplier maybe.
Its worthwhile noting that some of these are pretty harmless and your fish can feed on them but also that some are parasitic and will latch on to your livestock.