Monster Pod?

[hypertech]

I saw some junk on one of my zoas so I decided to investigate. After cleaning it off - looked like dark colored who knows what, I decided to give it a quick swich in the fresh water just in case they were eggs or something and I didn't get the all.

TWO of these shrimp looking things almost a half an inch long were on that little rock. Do pods get that big? I'm assuming they are good guys and since I had two on that one little rock I bet my tank is crawling with them so I threw them back.

I also have an abundance of very fast little bug looking things - I think those must also be pods.

In addition to that I have an explosion of baby snails. I think they may be little margarita snails but I'm not sure. Most are only a couple mm apart and they come out at night primarily. If they get big enough to figure out what kind of snail they are, I'm going to start giving away/selling them because there is no way my tank can sustain them all.

So, is my shrimp thing a monster pod? Are they good to have?

[hypertech]

I found a pic

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/pods.html

What I have is on the top left. What is that? How big does it get? Are they good?

[MNGold15]

If what you have it the pod in the top left of that website, it is a amphipod. They are totally fine, I have thousands of them, but have never noticed them that big, I would assume that in my tank they get munched on before they can get that big.

[Twins Guy]

amphipod (sounds like you've got full grown versions) = definitely good

[coralreefer]

I've had a lot of amphipods that size in my refugium. If you see them up close you can identify them by their odd looking legs. It looks like a minature shrimp with legs hinged backwards. I think they are very beneficial and have never caused me problems. For me they consume a lot of waste in my refugium. Do the bugs dart back and forth quickly? If so, I believe you are right that they are copepods.

[hypertech]

I've got those bugs and then I've got other bugs that scurry about. The crawly ones are more long and narrow.

[coralreefer]

The copepods (i think, maybe mysis shrimp) I have in my tank are a mm or less and they are very fast moving. They dark back in forth in a "swarm" like they are bouncing off of imaginary walls. The amphipods are much larger (up to a 1/2" and sometimes a little larger) and sluggish in comparison. They almost look like a clear version of a cricket mixed with a shrimp. It is definately an amphipod in your picture. Check your walls for isopods too (3rd picture in your group of pics). They are also pretty common and should be good food for fish/coral.