lrunasiu Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Hello all! Any ideas what these little guys are? They are very tiny, smaller than a grain of sand. And are currently all over everything in my tank, but mainly on/in the sand bed. I am very curious to see if any of you know what they might be. They are small, red/purplish and have worm-like movement. After some observation I have noticed they are benthic and come out most at night as well as prefer the darker areas of my tank. For context, these guys have just popped up in my 7 gallon nano from seemingly nowhere during a “dirty” dinoflagellate cleanse with a blackout and copepods. They popped up about 2-3 days in to the blackout. I’ll attach some photos and videos so you can all see what they look like. Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 I can't ID it, but to me it looks like something that is heterotrophic....which would be a good thing. We need lots of those in the mix! Curious about the swarming behavior though. In that aspect, they seem a bit flatwormy....though I don't recall seeing a flatworm look anything like your closeup pics. Someone better at ID will surely chime in. 1 Quote Link to comment
lrunasiu Posted September 19, 2022 Author Share Posted September 19, 2022 They do very much so seem heterotrophic, it is now a week later after I noticed them appear in my tank and all of the previously thriving dinoflagellates are gone. I am sure they are eating the dino's, and that would make sense with the swarming and sand blanketing behavior. I did a little more research and right now my best guess is that they are Rhodopseudomonas Palustris, which is a very interesting bacteria. I am assuming this is the best case because I started dosing PNS ProBio into my tank a few days before they appeared, however, R Palustris is a bacteria so I am struggling to understand how I would be able to see them with the naked eye. Its my best guess so far, but regardless these little guys seem great and I am glad they appeared! Quote Link to comment
Hazy Posted September 19, 2022 Share Posted September 19, 2022 I had these when I first stated a salt water tank. They appeared and there were thousands, after a while they just died off and never came back 1 Quote Link to comment
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