Novice has a question about some "parasites" in tank ...

[Daniel Rodriguez]

So I am really new to this. Less than a month (barely). Anyway, I just completed a water change and rearrangement of my tank and when all the dust settled (damn live sand) I discovered a slew of these lil crawlers on the glass of my tank ... Ive lost 2 damsels already despite immaculate water (8.2 ph, 0 nitrate/nitrite/ammonia ... Ive been ridiculously lucky) due to too much fluctuation with my specific gravity/salinity. So now that I know how to keep my tank more stable I'm concerned with attempting to stock my tank again due to these critters. To make a short story long, what are they and will they affect any livestock I plan on adding to the system?

[Original Fin]

Probably copepods...reef bugs. They're good guys..food for larger life forms.

You'll want to do more reading. Cycling with Damsels is cruel IMO (for reason's you've demonstrated) and unnecessary.
A tank that is one month old cannot possibly have immaculate water. The four parameters you mentioned are only part of the story...there's more going on that you need to read up on.

You can start with these articles written by our resident expert, Lee.

Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

What is Water Quality

Fish Stocking Limit - for FO and FOWLR

HTH

[Daniel Rodriguez]

Probably copepods...reef bugs. They're good guys..food for larger life forms.

You'll want to do more reading. Cycling with Damsels is cruel IMO (for reason's you've demonstrated) and unnecessary.
A tank that is one month old cannot possibly have immaculate water. The four parameters you mentioned are only part of the story...there's more going on that you need to read up on.

You can start with these articles written by our resident expert, Lee.

Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

What is Water Quality

Fish Stocking Limit - for FO and FOWLR

HTH

Thanks for the heads up fin. I have done quite a bit of reading on what needs to be done and am currently working on the basics. Feel free to check out my other started thread titled "A total newbie's 10gal mini/nano reef W.I.P." It may explain better my thought process behind why I'm perhaps attempting to run before knowing how to walk. I am unsure if its a copepod and what kind it is as I dont have access to a microscope.

You Can't Tell Your "Pods" Without A Program by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
Bitty Bugs: Copepods in the Reef Aquarium by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

I read these articles here but they werent exactly very helpful ... and then I joined and posted my own queries ... anywho, thanks fin and hope to discuss more tank stuff with ya

[chrisfont23]

So I am really new to this. Less than a month (barely). Anyway, I just completed a water change and rearrangement of my tank and when all the dust settled (damn live sand) I discovered a slew of these lil crawlers on the glass of my tank ... Ive lost 2 damsels already despite immaculate water (8.2 ph, 0 nitrate/nitrite/ammonia ... Ive been ridiculously lucky) due to too much fluctuation with my specific gravity/salinity. So now that I know how to keep my tank more stable I'm concerned with attempting to stock my tank again due to these critters. To make a short story long, what are they and will they affect any livestock I plan on adding to the system?

My tank is 6 months old. It just reached levels appropriate of adding more fish a few weeks ago. I only then added damsels. I would add no more than a fish or two a month (and that's probably capacity for your setup anyway), letting the tank stabilize ensuring that your bio load is gradually introduced. Being a freshwater enthusiast for years, I have learned (the hard way) the number one rule is patience. And considering the price of this hobby, rule # 1 has been well worth it.

[mk1151]

The water change probably also affected your testing - it's been my experience, and from some excellent coaching I got, you don't want to change your water at all until after your tank has cycled, and even a week or two after you started stocking it.

Changing your water while the tank is cycling is removing some of the ammonia and good bacteria needed to get the nitrogen cycle going.

Also, once you get the specific gravity right, make sure if you top off the tank due to evaporation, you use RO/DI water, NOT salt water. The salt does not evaporate with the water and will re-dissolve with the fresh water. Adding saltwater to a tank that is low due to evaporation will increase the specific gravity.

Again, these are just my opinions from experience and consulting local experts who maintain salt tanks professionally.

[Daniel Rodriguez]

The water change probably also affected your testing - it's been my experience, and from some excellent coaching I got, you don't want to change your water at all until after your tank has cycled, and even a week or two after you started stocking it.

Changing your water while the tank is cycling is removing some of the ammonia and good bacteria needed to get the nitrogen cycle going.

Also, once you get the specific gravity right, make sure if you top off the tank due to evaporation, you use RO/DI water, NOT salt water. The salt does not evaporate with the water and will re-dissolve with the fresh water. Adding saltwater to a tank that is low due to evaporation will increase the specific gravity.

Again, these are just my opinions from experience and consulting local experts who maintain salt tanks professionally.

Hey MK,

Thanks for your input. The issue at hand was that I was not topping off my tank at all after evaporation. The salt buildup would then mix in as the water would get agitated during my daily magnet scraping of the glass ... I definitely learned the importance of keeping water level constant so as to maintain constant integrity of all the parameters. The guys at my LFS told me the same thing also adding to use the tiniest bit of Buffer dKh also as I would use just standard distilled from the grocery store and differences in the pH levels were explained to me. Over time as I get better at saltwater husbandry and upgrade my setup I will def be getting some type of RO unit and ATO setup ... I know it gets easier the larger the setup but by the time i get to that point, I'm gonna wanna be lazy and hopefully have it all on auto-pilot. I wanna spend time watching, studying and taking pictures, not fussing over maintenance and such LoL

Hope to discuss more with you MK. Thanks again.

[mk1151]

Hi Daniel,
What type of filter and pump setup do you have? I ask because my sump system evaporates mostly from the sump and not the main tank so I haven't experienced the problems you mentioned with the salt...

Also I forgot to mention, I got the same critters in my tank as the cycle was ending. It's normal. I got a yellowtail coris wrasse and he went to town on them and did a good job cleaning the LR as well. There are folks here who don't recommend them, and they aren't reef recommended (may nip at coral and anemone) but he's left my inverts alone and it's a pretty fish too.

He was my first fish and is happy and healthy a month later, and has grown a bit too.

Good luck and welcome!

[Chasman]

Daniel

An easy way to keep your tank filled is to make a simple auto-top-off system. All you need is a five gallon bucket, a maxi-jet pump (I use a 600), some tubing and a Top-it-Off Kit Deluxe from aquahub.com. It has all of the instructions you need to put it together. (very easy)
I'm running two of these on sumpless tanks and love'em. You can use it in a sump as well.