Dots With Legs - Staurocladia oahuensis

[armygreen11]

From searching this forum, I've come to the conclusion that I definately have "dots with legs" in my tank. On your odd creatures page on your site, Dr. Ron, my front glass looks exactly like the first picture you have of these creatures. According to your description, they will go away on their own, but my questions are, how long will it take, and if it's a long time (more than weeks) is there anything that eats them? I have thousands in my tank, and they appeared shortly after introducing some various macro algae into my system. My tank has only been running for about three months now, including the month of cure time. Thanks!

[rshimek]

Hi Greg,

I don't know of anything that eats them. Possibly some "nipping" fish such as a Copper Banded Butterfly might eat them.

Generally, they slowly fade away after a month or two, but some folks have had them for several years (in very low numbers).

They are harmless, fortunately.

[armygreen11]

Thanks Dr. Ron. I was actually looking at a copperbanded butterfly this evening at the LFS, but being that I'm quite the newbie still I decided on a Royal Gramma instead. It's the first fish in the system. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully they'll just disappear on their own.

[armygreen11]

Isn't he cute?

http://home.comcast.net/~armygreen11/TankPics02Jun04/Gramma1.JPG