Live Rock Q.

[AundriaM]

I've had live rock in my tank for two weeks, and all of the sudden (I'm talking overnight) there are little pod looking things covering the sand around them. They are greenish brown, 1/8" long with a seam down the middle. They look like fish food pellets. I only have 2 damsels, a clown, a shrimp, 5 tiny hermit crabs and 6 snails in the 55 gallon tank - there is no way this is waste - I don't think. I will laugh so hard if that's what it is - I did just add the shrimp & clown...

Any ideas? This is my first experience with live rock - I hope these are beneficial little things! By the way, they are not moving. And I've spied some really tiny crabs (pin head sized) and these are not crabs.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JellyMan]

I cant tell you without a pic.

 

[bobby]

I aslo had those when I first added my live rock. I thought it was droppings from my urchin but it went away and I still havnt figyred it out. I'll be watching this post to see what you come up with.

 

[AundriaM]

Thanks, I'll see if I can get a picture of them later today. They're so small I'm afraid it won't come out very clear. There aren't as many this morning - I wonder if something is eating them?

Bobby - glad to see it's not just me! I wasn't able to figure out what they were by searching online - hopefully someone here will know about them :D

 

[JellyMan]

not a problem just when you can get around to it alos what type of crabs did you notice?

 

[AundriaM]

Sorry, I'm not good enough to tell the difference between crabs yet! I moved one of the rocks and a dark speck landed on the sand - literally the size of the head of a pin. I looked really closely at it and saw legs waving around - it landed on its back. I assumed it was a crab because the spec looked like a shell, but I'm really not positive - it actually looked like a tiny cockroach.

 

[JellyMan]

ok my suggestion is keep a journal of logged entries trust me it will come in handy in the near future when they get bigger just give us a shout someone in here will be able to help you and if we cant we will find someone that will.

 

[AundriaM]

Oh, that so doesn't sound like this is a good thing to have! I do have a journal going - thanks for the tip - it has already come in handy!

 

[Bifferwine]

That little crab thing is probably a pod. Amphipods, copepods, isopods, most are very good for your tank. They kinda look like little bugs. Your fish will eat them and if you turn all your lights off and go back to look at your tank with a flashlight you'll see tons of them crawling over the rocks.

 

[JellyMan]

Dont know Biff it could very well be a crab Ive had it happen in my tank

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah but if it has lots of legs and looks like a cockroach and it's very small and there are many of them, I'd go pod.

 

[JellyMan]

Yes but would that not be contradicting due to the fact that they are the size of a pinhead which is round??

 

[yote]

Actually,,,it could be small shrimp to.

 

[jhnrb]

Be patient, observe, take notes, get a pic and post if you can.