Sea Apple crisis!!

I have noticed, for about a week, there are teeny tiny "bugs" (almost invisible to the naked eye) crawling around on my glass inside my tank. Lately, my Sea Apple has been sucking in parts of his body. Yesterday, I noticed them crawling on my Apple, and tonight I am noticing that these little creatures are eating the skin off of my apple!! He looks like he is in pain. What are these things and why are they in my tank??? I have to get rid of them. I have no quarantine tank. Please help me.... I love this little guy and everyone else in my tank.

Water is testing pristine. Everyone else is fine. Sea Apple is still feeding, but seems stressed.

 

not to freak you out at all. i know absolutely nothing about sea apples but thought i read that they can release a ton of toxin if disrupted

 

I'm almost 100% sure that the bugs you are seeing are copepods. They beneficial to your tank. As for the stressed sea apple..I can't really help there. I know there are a couple other people with them on here so maybe they will post.

Edit: +1 to the above post..if you think it's starting to go..get it out!

 

Sounds like copepods! You want them!

 

First of all gotta ask ya a couple questions, is the sea apples body expanding or shrinking? what parts of the body is he pulling in, if its the colorful oral tentacles he is pulling in thats how it feeds itself, they are a filter feeder so they use their tentacles to wave in the current and pull in one arm at a time to its mouth and sucks all of the nutrients off of its finger. Kind of like when a person gets chocolate or something on their finger he is doing the same thing. What color are the creatures that are eating him? One of the main things you have to worry about is, does his body look normal size? Is he eating fine? Are his tentacles completely retracted? Sea apples are a decently hardy creature but when they die its devastating.

 

Here is a link to my info on sea apples http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/sea-apple-natures-tank-killers-beautifiers-85890.html

 

First of all gotta ask ya a couple questions, is the sea apples body expanding or shrinking? what parts of the body is he pulling in, if its the colorful oral tentacles he is pulling in thats how it feeds itself, they are a filter feeder so they use their tentacles to wave in the current and pull in one arm at a time to its mouth and sucks all of the nutrients off of its finger. Kind of like when a person gets chocolate or something on their finger he is doing the same thing. What color are the creatures that are eating him? One of the main things you have to worry about is, does his body look normal size? Is he eating fine? Are his tentacles completely retracted? Sea apples are a decently hardy creature but when they die its devastating.

 

I'm new-- VERY new. But I've done a ton of research on the apples. He is making his body crater-like. Within the 'craters' are where the 'bugs' (copepods?) are. He doesn't like them, and they're eating away his skin. I totally understand how they eat-- and like I said, he is still feeding himself. But he's not doing well with these bugs on him... I am thinking about pointing my jet directly on him to spray them off for the meantime, until I can find something safe to treat my tank with that won't harm my apple. Any suggestions?? I don't know what will and what won't hurt my apple, that will kill parasites...

Thank you. Already read it, and loved it!!

 

Just looked up Copepods. A very small amount of them are harmful to tanks, and they're almost unheard of in salt water. I am thinking I have them. Please help me treat my tank without hurting my apple. What is safe for my inverts that will kill these bugs off?

 

I assure you they're not the bad kind..