Underwater Ants?

I noticed this morning a bunch of shrimp like creatures walking about my tank, very hard to see almost like small ants crawling about. same shape too. is this a good or bad thing? seems to be a lot of them.

 

Do a google image search for "copepods" do they look like what you see?!

If so, then its a very good thing - copepods are beneficial to any reef system as food for fish and scavengers of detritus.

 

Also search "Amphipods" I think they're more shrimp-like creatures. They're some kind of pod non-the-less and that is usually a good thing!

 

Hi and Welcome,

Title caught my attention " Underwater Ants ?" .

Agree with all above.

 

they look a lot like Amphipods, they are not free swimming, mostly hanging onto the live rock. after looking at my tank hardcore this morning i see that i also have tons of tiny fans everywhere, a brittle star that i have never seen, some bright orange seafan looking thing, and a snail must have laid eggs and they hatched, and a colony of some tiny brown polyps sprout up (about 7) i guess i haven't looked at my tank deeply in a long time

 

Also google isopods LOL.

 

Underwater Ants

We may have the same thing, but I don't know what they are either. I took a picture of one of their underground tunnels, and there are tiny red "ants" that move up and down this tube all day. Does anyone know what they are, and if they are beneficial or harmful to a tank? I have a 14 gallon BioCube, and want to keep the eco-system as healthy as possible.

 

Your tubes are from spaghetti worms. Anything crawling along those "tubes" are simply using the road created by the spaghetti worms.

 

Its not spaghetti worm specific. Many things make tunnels.