OK.....ID Time

[messiah023]

I decided to "check out" the tank while the lights were off this evening and found an interesting surprise.

Thousands of "pods" or something swimming around in the tank.
Any ideas? They don't look like normal pods, almost like Mysis shrimp babies....

 

[yote]

Probably are mysis shrimp.
I'll bet your coral had a great bed time snack last night.

 

[Bifferwine]

Those look like hydroids to me.

 

[messiah023]

I thought Hydroids at first, however, they didn't have the right look to them. Hydroids that I used the ids for all have a "star" type shape to them, these were literally like baby mysis, swimming from the "tail".

http://melevsreef.com/id/mysis.html

I don't know how Mysis could get into my tank, maybe another type of pod, but they looked like baby mysis, free swimming?
They almost looked like translucent, super tiny lobsters.

Any more thoughts?

Biff, any good links to hydroids (maybe I missed something)?

 

[Piggy]

I was thinking some type of pod.

 

[reeffreak]

There are copepods that swim too.I've also read,there are mysis species that can hitchhike with live rock.If they are swimming,it is probably one of the two.I have millions,if not billions of them.

 

[messiah023]

Did some more research, thank you everyone for your input....

The winner is........ HERE.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN MY TANK LAST NIGHT!
Look at the middle picture of my original post towards the right hand side.
You can see the complete shape of them, almost "lobster like".

I didn't even think about the peppermint shrimp I have in the tank.
I purchased (2) shrimp about 2 months ago and they have been thriving healthy in the tank eating my new frozen food.
BTW, this food is AWESOME! The fish & inverts love it (a bit pricey, but worth every penny in my opinion).

Thanks everyone for your input. I will let you know if I see monthly spawning like this again. I may try and follow the article and transfer to a breeder tank....could be fun.

 

[yote]

Yeah,Let us know how it works out.You may be on to a way to help pay for at least part of the hobby.