Swarm of what I think is shrimp larvae. Can anyone confirm?

[JaxBeachBrian]

Hi everyone - I woke up the other morning to my tank swarming with what looks like shrimp larvae. Can anyone confirm?

The tank:
- 1 Skunk cleaner shrimp
- 3 turbo snails
- A half dozen or so blue legged hermit crabs
- Blue Hippo Tang
- 2 clowns
- 1 conch snail

After about an hour or 2, poof they were all gone.

Thank you and appreciate any input!

 

[KrisReef]

I think shrimp "larvae"would look like tiny shrimp. I think these are some other planktonic critter.

 

[althyu]

Hi everyone - I woke up the other morning to my tank swarming with what looks like shrimp larvae. Can anyone confirm?

The tank:
- 1 Skunk cleaner shrimp
- 3 turbo snails
- A half dozen or so blue legged hermit crabs
- Blue Hippo Tang
- 2 clowns
- 1 conch snail

After about an hour or 2, poof they were all gone.

Thank you and appreciate any input!

Aren't these saltwater Mysid shrimp? Those look like the photos and swarm during the first hour after sunset.

 

[ZoWhat]

Look like a Golden Corral visit for a Wrasse

 

[Land&Sea]

Definitely looks like a swarm of mysid shrimp to me. I have them (Americamysis Bahia) in my sump and DT. Mine usually swarm/hover very close to the substrate. But I have a SUPER TURBULENT reef tank. I think they prefer much lower flow. If they are a huge population of mysids though, count yourself lucky, as it took me many years of ordering 1000’s at a time( and many tank upgrades) to finally get a sustainable population that breeds faster than gets eaten. Nothing better than a tank full of a diverse list of nutritious live food. If it wasn’t for my tangs needing their daily nori, I could probably get away with never feeding my tank again. I’ve made it my mission to add as many things as possible that both help clean the tank and serve as food (saltwater grass/ghost shrimp, mysid shrimp, pods of all kinds and sizes, bristle worms, harmless flatworms, baby snails, etc). The only thing I really DON’T have is algae, as my CUC does TOO good of a job. anyway, with your pic being a bit blurry, it’s kind of hard to tell. But here are some pics for you to compare them to. They’re usually between a few millimeters (as babies) and half an inch to an inch (as adults)…

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The blue leg hermits are the only critters you listed that you have multiples of and could produce larvae that look similar to this, so I'd say either mysid shrimp or hermit larvae.

Blue Legged Hermit larvae for reference:

Larve Clibanarius tricolor , eingestellt von marcoj90, 2020. Foto von Clibanarius tricolor

www.reeflex.net

Blue Leg Hermit Crab

1 introduced on the 31st December 2016. Deceased 3rd December 2017 possibly due to a failed moulting.

lisasreef.weebly.com