HELP! Lots of maggots like / "micro bugs" like things on tank wall and in water!

[mike2016]

HELP! Lots of maggots like / "micro bugs" like things on tank wall and in water!

I just got home from a 2 day weekend trip, found my tank wall has LOTS of maggots looking / micro bugs all over, there's a lot floating in the water too. i think there might be hundreds if not thousands of them in my tank.

and the algae are almost completely gone, besides some hair looking ones on the LR and the feather duster tube.

maybe the maggots ate all the algae?

Why am i getting these things? They are so GROSS! omg.
How can I get rid of them?
Should I do a full water change?

I'm pretty sure overfeeding has been a problem for my tank, and I got too busy last week haven't got a chance to change the water for a week.

now i found my skimmer is clogged too, just took it out and cleaned it up it's working again.

 

[thincat]

How big are they? Could be copepods.

 

[mike2016]

not sure if they are copepods, i have never seen this kind of creature in my tanks before.

they are about ~1-2mm in length, very very small. smaller than ants.

i have to look real close to the tank to see they are actually "live", at first i thought it was just some white spots on my tank (hundreds of them together look like white spots)

 

[Mitchell0605]

Sounds like coepods. Get a Sixline Wrasse. Jokes, I think they will take care of themselves. Just a population boom.

 

[mike2016]

So it's ok to leave them like that? The water is so cloudy now because of these things. What causes these things to grow all of a sudden?

 

[thincat]

to much food, to much food, to much food...lol
What kind of fishes do you have?

 

[melosu58]

Look at these and see if you see them

Xtalreef

You Can't Tell Your "Pods" Without A Program by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[mike2016]

the closest that matches those are "copepods", but i can't really see if they have legs or tails on them, they are just too small.

there's also a star looking thing on the glass, it kind of matches "ASTERINA STARS", it just appeared recently.

i have 1 clown, 1 blue tang, 1 box fish and some corals.

will too much left over food cause this? i just did 50% water change today and cleaned up the tank a bit, noticed some left over food rotting behind the rocks.

 

[mike2016]

another thing i forgot to mention, before i left, i fed some "phytoplankton" to the tank, is this the source?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Copepods aren't really anything to be concerned about. They come and go depending on nutrients and whether or not your fish snack on them. I can see mine "swarming" around in the protected nooks and crannies of my tank and occasionally on the glass. You can think of them as free food for your fish!

I don't really know if their population is effected by extra food, but I'm sure it helps keep them multiplying. Phytoplankton isn't the source, but like the extra food I'm sure it helps keep them multiplying. Phytoplankton itself doesn't really feed fish or coral, but it feeds the stuff that fish and coral eat - it's the first step of a food chain that's normally missing from our tanks.

 

[Mitchell0605]

How big is your tank?

 

[mike2016]

it's a 28G nano cube...

after a 50% water change the copepods are a lot less now, but still visible. and i see some bigger ones crawling on the rocks, sand... not sure if they are the same thing.

 

[mrg02d]

Arent copepods to be desired? I wouldnt be doing PWCs to get rid of them. Fish will do that for you.

Yould be surprised how fast they go away with a sixline wrasse in the tank.

Matt

 

[mike2016]

Good to know! Paying a visit to the LFS this weekend! I was just so worried because they look gross when there's a mass of them crawling on my tank.

My algae problem has been gone, do those things eat algae?

 

[mrg02d]

Good to know! Paying a visit to the LFS this weekend! I was just so worried because they look gross when there's a mass of them crawling on my tank.

My algae problem has been gone, do those things eat algae?

Trust me, youll be adding them later down the road.

Matt