Thousands of tiny bugs?

[nonickname]

Perhaps someone can help me figure out what is taking over my tank. I have had my tank set up now for about three months. I have noticed at night, after lights out, what appear to be thousands of small bugs on the glass, sand and rock. They are very small, probably just a few mm which prevents me from getting a good picture. They move very fast and scurry when the light hits them. They are an opaque, whitish color. I used to only see a few on the glass, now they seem to be everywhere. Any ideas? Thanks. Rob.

 

[Larry Grenier]

Probably the fauna, zooplankton, mostly Amphipods and Copepods (small, shrimplike crustaceans). These are a good part of a detrivour kit and act as a natural source of food for fish and some corals and inverts.

If they have no predators, their population may bloom like yours. Do a search on Amphipods and Copepods.

 

[2poor2reef]

Yep, it's most likely a good thing. When your system is new you will see wild fluctuations in populations of small critters as predator and prey jockey and food sources build and then dry up. It's one of the things I like about watching new systems. Eventually, populations will level out at sustainable levels, with a slight tendency towards extinctions, which is why it is usually necessary to recharge detrivores from time to time. If you feed small amounts of food regularly and protect them from predators then you can maintain higher populations of these critters, which will help provide natural food to your corals and fish.

 

[newkie]

amphipods are the small shrimp like critters, copepods are the bugs. Look here: http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/index.html