White dots moving QUICKLY on Glass of my 5 week old reef tank.

[archetypeww]

Just added a few pieces of soft coral to my tank and I am seeing micro small white dots moving on the glass of tank. Is this a coincidence or do I have something in my tank to be concerned about? They do move very quickly so my first thought was snail larvae moving around in the current but they do stop and go with control.

I also noticed a spiked worm-like creature emerging from some live rock. Any idea what this might be?

[zhenya]

Hi archetypeww,

Just added a few pieces of soft coral to my tank and I am seeing micro small white dots moving on the glass of tank. Is this a coincidence or do I have something in my tank to be concerned about? They do move very quickly so my first thought was snail larvae moving around in the current but they do stop and go with control.

I also noticed a spiked worm-like creature emerging from some live rock. Any idea what this might be?

White dots that you mentioned are probably small copepods, quite common occurence in the newish tanks and nothing to be concerned about. As far as spiked worm is concerned you need to describe it a bit more so that it could be recognized, or at least guessed as far as what it may be. If it has some bristles on it's side than it could be a common polychate that many people call "bristle worm".
Anyway, here's some reading material for you to help recognize some of the critters that you may encounter in your tank.

Annelida, Polychaeta (Worms)

Spaghetti and Hair Worms… What’s in a Name? by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
Polychaete Annelid Identification, or “You Can Always Tell A Bristle Worm… by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
Polychaete Annelid Identification, or
The Worms Crawl In

Small critters:

Bitty Bugs: Copepods in the Reef Aquarium by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

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

[archetypeww]

Thanks for the info Gene.

funny... I call it a reef tank and it's only 5 weeks old. Well... it will be eventually.

[Parrothead]

Thanks for the info Gene.

funny... I call it a reef tank and it's only 5 weeks old. Well... it will be eventually.

That's what we all call them, with love, patience, studying, and knowledge they will one day become just that

[gregr]

Hey if you already have the little bugs populating your tank, excuse me, your "reef" tank then you're doing very well. 5 weeks seems quick.