amphipods i think???

[trouble]

Went at my tank with a flash light one night to see if i had any bristle worms(I have at least 5-6 of them that i have seen) and noticed these little brown buggers that are extremely fast and range from a couple mm to a few mm in length. research has taught me that the bristle worms are no big deal but as far as i can tell these other little guys are amphipods other than that have not been able to determine if they are bad/good, or how to control their numbers (or even if controlling their numbers is necessary),since they seem to be quite plentiful, thats actually an understatement as their seems to be hundreds of the little things. can some body shed some light on the subject for me

[justinl]

almost certainly amphipods. They usually look like pillbugs that have been squished in by their sides and are also usually curled up a bit at the back end. Look up isopod and amphipod pictures on the net. No need to control imo.

[Dolf]

The long and the short of it is that they will eat the stuff that you really don't want hanging around your tank anyhow. They provide a source of food to certain fish and some corals and are extremely beneficial. I am setting up a 75 gallon refugium specifically for them (and worms, and decapods, and copepods and... well, all of the critters that I love.) Be happy they are there (the major thing that you don't want that is small and white are flatworms... just do a google image search.) The populations of pods will wax and wane depending on available food.