Pods or baby snails or ?

[maxberter]

I just got back from a 4 day trip and noticed hundres-to-thousands of little critters I've never seen before. Tank is 1 year old and always pretty sterile (dry rock, no frags, just fish and inverts added). Nothing added in the last few months either. I thought they were pods but then I thought baby snails, but I dont really know. They are extremely tiny and numerous. Attached are a bunch of videos.

 

[tzabor10]

None of the videos played

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Can’t see your pics.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

They don’t move like snails

Upload you videos to YouTube and then post here so everyone can see them

I had to download the linked file to view

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Looks like dwarf cerith snails to me. I have a bunch of them. Mine are about 1/4” to 3/8”. They stay that small too. They are a great part of CUC.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Looks like dwarf cerith snails to me. I have a bunch of them. Mine are about 1/4” to 3/8”. They stay that small too. They are a great part of CUC.

The video makes it look like they are walking

 

[maxberter]

Looks like dwarf cerith snails to me. I have a bunch of them. Mine are about 1/4” to 3/8”. They stay that small too. They are a great part of CUC.

I do have a bunch of dwarf ceriths in the tank already, so maybe

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Looks like probably ostracods to me - harmless/beneficial if so.

 

[maxberter]

Looks like probably ostracods to me - harmless/beneficial if so.

This is my best guess so far, thanks.
Since some people couldnt view my videos, they look *exactly* like what this guy had:

Ostracod or Acro White Bugs?

Hi all! I've recently had an explosion of these guys in my tank and I'm trying to determine if they have any correlation to a recent decline in several types of SPS (for perspective though my tank is relatively new so it may just not be time for SPS yet). I have a strong suspicion they're...

www.reef2reef.com

I will try to get a microscope view of them.

 

[maxberter]

Ok, I put them under the microscope this morning. I have no idea. They have a bunch of legs and hair. Can anyone identify these creepy crawlies for me?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Ok, I put them under the microscope this morning. I have no idea. They have a bunch of legs and hair. Can anyone identify these creepy crawlies for me?

Yeah, those definitely look like ostracods to me.

 

[maxberter]

Yeah, those definitely look like ostracods to me.

Ok thanks, still my best guess, but I couldn't find examples on the web that had hairs and long legs like these do.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Ok thanks, still my best guess, but I couldn't find examples on the web that had hairs and long legs like these do.

Here's a couple for comparison:

A new ostracod: Bairdoppilata scaura

Ostracods are often called seed shrimp which is in reference to their body shape. Their bodies are flattened from side to side and protec...

onebugaday.blogspot.com

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQvtf9uD9QfXAz1f9sWgDC4JYCiOE5RBz2S6w&usqp=CAU

This last one has a lot, but they're spread out throughout the paper:

https://mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03608p510.pdf

Plenty of ostracods look similar to this - most of the ones I'm aware of are Bairdiid Ostracods (from the taxonomic family Bairdiidae).