My crab has.... Crabs?!?

U

UDdiver81

AC Members
Mar 16, 2005
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Ok maybe not, but there are lil bug like things crawling all over my emerald crab. They are extremely tiny and fast. I'm sure they are probably in the other parts of my aquarium too but they are easily noticed on the crab. With the green color of the crab as my background, the lil buggers look a brownish color. Any ideas what they could be? Should I be worried?

Another thing... I know presence of algae is a good thing... but I have TONS of brown algae! Diatoms, if you will :) It wasn't anywhere near as bad last week. We added in a critter package last week that included snails, hermits, pep. shrimp, and an emerald crab. (I'm assuming this is how the lil bug like critters ended up in there too) We kept the lighting down to a minimum for this week. What are some tricks that I can try to keep control of the algae.

We also now have 2 ocelaris clownfish that are as happy as can be.
 
UDdiver81 said:
Another thing... I know presence of algae is a good thing... but I have TONS of brown algae! Diatoms, if you will :) It wasn't anywhere near as bad last week. We added in a critter package last week that included snails, hermits, pep. shrimp, and an emerald crab. (I'm assuming this is how the lil bug like critters ended up in there too) We kept the lighting down to a minimum for this week. What are some tricks that I can try to keep control of the algae.
Click to expand...

Is it a dusty type of algae or slimy?
 
Well, it sounds like diatoms to me. That tells me that's it's one or two things either you have a new tank where all the soluble silica hasn't been removed from the water. More likely ,"and hopefully in this case", you aren't useing r.o. or non-copper distilled water for your changes and top offs. When you do that adds more silica,nitrates, nitrites etc to your tank and that's fertalizer.
I might reduce lighting a little but, as long as there is silica in the water you're going to have diatoms I'd start useing r.o. water and the situation should improve over the next couple of weeks as the diatoms use up the free silica.
The little critters are probably pods and are harmless.
What are your water parameters, substrate , lighting and age of tank?
Hth
chris
 
gee thanks!

Well I already know that they are diatoms. And I already mentioned that I'm reducing the lighting. They chemistries in the water are being monitored at least every other day and are all normal. Yes its a new tank and we fully cycled it. We are using a RO water. I have a feeling the diatoms are from the live rock we recieved from a friend and they are just going nuts cause they like our setup so much :)

I'm more concerned about the lil critters. So if they are copopods then does that mean I can get a mandarine fish?!? :) :) :) :)
 
UDdiver81 said:
Well I already know that they are diatoms. And I already mentioned that I'm reducing the lighting. They chemistries in the water are being monitored at least every other day and are all normal. Yes its a new tank and we fully cycled it. We are using a RO water. I have a feeling the diatoms are from the live rock we recieved from a friend and they are just going nuts cause they like our setup so much :)

I'm more concerned about the lil critters. So if they are copopods then does that mean I can get a mandarine fish?!? :) :) :) :)
Click to expand...

I would advise AGAINST a mandarine for at least 6 months to a year. You want to make sure that there are more than enough pods for the fish to live on. I made the mistake of adding a mandarine about 3 months after my tank was cycled and it only lived for about 2 months. Give it some time and be patient if you are wanting one.
HTH,

Bradd
 
Maybe not even in a few months. It would depend on your tank size ," at least a 40 gal with at least 1.5 to 2 lbs of l.r. per gallon unless you want to buy a LOT of pods." You also have to make sure that there isn't anyone else in there that likes pods or they'll likely eat it out of house and home. Mandrins are cool if you have a big enough tank otherwise they are usually dead in a few months.
The diatoms just take a bit to go away tell us more about your tank.
Chris
 
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