What are these little white things?

[AquaBear]

On one wall of my 75g SW tank, I have some tiny little white things on the glass, about the size of a pin-point. I can tell they're moving on their own because they change direction and start-and-stop, as opposed to moving randomly in the water. There are dozens of them walking around in the sucker-tracks left by the snails. But they move with the speed of a small insect as opposed to the slow plodding of a snail.

Now, I know the snails have bred, because I already found and destroyed an egg sac, could these little white things be related to that, or could they be something else? I have been treating the main tank for possible ich for the last month by letting it stand fish-less, it's been 37 days, so it couldn't be that, I'm thinking.

Is it possible this could be a good thing and I should leave them, or is this something that could be bad and I should scrape them off as soon as possible? Any thoughts?

TIA, Aquabear

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

They could be pods. If they are that is not a bad thing

 

[DIY]

sounds like pods to me... i have them all over the tank.. in the LS and they love to gather around the algae spots my snails have missed... they are a good thing!

 

[crage34]

most def sounds like the little white pods that i have crawling on my glass...if u look close enough u can see them on your rocks too

 

[AquaBear]

My eyesight isn't good enough to see them on the rocks. But it sounds like I don't need to worry about them, and in fact should probably leave them. Is there a place on here where I can read up on them?

Thanks, all...
--Aquabear

 

[Sparky]

I got something like that also, but they don't move. They are hard calcerous type of thing. they are on the back glass and on the rocks. But they do not move around.

Mike

 

[boardsurfer]

There was a post on this about 6 months ago. Sorry, but I couldn't find it... But at any rate, they are totally harmless and I think that they are some type of sponge rather than a pod, but I'm not sure.

Totally harmless, though!

 

[AquaBear]

No problem, thanks for trying to find it. I won't worry about them, then, but still want to find out what purpose they serve.

--Aquabear

 

[MT79]

They are more than likely copepods. Try "googling" copepod for a pic, they are beneficial detritus eaters. They are a sign of good overall tank health. Their numbers will "ebb and flow" w/ tank conditions and time. HTH

 

[boardsurfer]

Sorry, MT79 is right. Copepods move around, and you said in your post above that the ones in your tank moved around. I need to pay attention! Lol. The ones in my tank were bigger than copepods and were almost the size of a pencil eraser...And they didn't move at all. I was talking about something else.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[phases99]

Spirorbid polychaete to be exact. I have tons of them. They make my black background look like a planetarium. When they mature you can see a little filter feeder sticking out.

 

[AquaBear]

I did a search on that...they're little worm creatures. Wow, don't they look scary under a microscope! I didn't think about that, but I'll bet I've got dozens of varieties of little creepy-crawlies in the tank. I've spotted several little "fan-worm" type things, that look like old radio antenna sticking out of my LR, and last night I noticed some little tube-like things, that look like little sausage-casings, which recoiled when one of my crabs got too close to it. Must be part of what makes live rock "live".

Okay, at least I know now. Thanks.

--Aquabear