Copepod bloom

jaxteller007 · Jul 2, 2020

We have one going on now in our tank. Hopefully some changes we made to the flow along with some new livestock whittle it down. Is there anything else you can do to make them go? In addition to making the water "ugly" I've heard that a bad enough one can starve fish of oxygen in the tank...

andrewey · Jul 2, 2020

Here's a great resource on copepods you might want to read- I've never heard of copepods starving fish of oxygen in an adequately oxygenated reef tank- do you mean the general idea of microbial plankton or even phytoplankton? Their population is largely self-limiting. I suspect you either don't have any animals that consume copepods or have too much nutrient import into your tank.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/rs/index.php

jaxteller007 · Jul 2, 2020

andrewey said:
Here's a great resource on copepods you might want to read- I've never heard of copepods starving fish of oxygen in an adequately oxygenated reef tank- do you mean the general idea of microbial plankton or even phytoplankton? Their population is largely self-limiting. I suspect you either don't have any animals that consume copepods or have too much nutrient import into your tank.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/rs/index.php

We definitely don't have many that consume them that I know of. One scooter blenny. I doubt any of our other fish would consume them. Other than that it's all snails and hermits and one Duncan. What kind of nutrient import are you talking about? I dose the standard trace elements. My levels when I test are all good, nitrates are a little high but that's it.

andrewey · Jul 2, 2020

Maybe it would help if you could describe how many we're talking here or provide a photo? Is this just during the night or do you see them crawling around during the day? Is it only on the glass or can you see them on the rocks or in the water column?

Pistondog · Jul 2, 2020

andrewey said:
Maybe it would help if you could describe how many we're talking here or provide a photo? Is this just during the night or do you see them crawling around during the day? Is it only on the glass or can you see them on the rocks or in the water column?

Are too many pods bad? I also thought they are self limiting.
At night I see many on glass and an occasional whirlwind of them like a school of fish. Are these problems ?

jaxteller007 · Jul 2, 2020

andrewey said:
Maybe it would help if you could describe how many we're talking here or provide a photo? Is this just during the night or do you see them crawling around during the day? Is it only on the glass or can you see them on the rocks or in the water column?

I'll try and get a pic tomorrow when the lights come back on. It's definitely a lot, during the day and you see them being blown all around the water column.

jaxteller007 · Jul 2, 2020

Pistondog said:
Are too many pods bad? I also thought they are self limiting.
At night I see many on glass and an occasional whirlwind of them like a school of fish. Are these problems ?

I think if there's a big bloom of them it can be a problem, or indicate something else is wrong....
Aside from it making the tank just look dirty the whole time.

ichthyogeek · Jul 2, 2020

How old is your tank? A number of tanks "suffer" a pod bloom during the maturation process. I remember being ecstatic at seeing amphipods absolutely everywhere one month in a young tank, only for them to all just disappear into the rockwork the next month.

Whatever you're doing, let us know! I'd love to make a copepod bloom happen on purpose...all the time

jaxteller007 · Jul 3, 2020

ichthyogeek said:
How old is your tank? A number of tanks "suffer" a pod bloom during the maturation process. I remember being ecstatic at seeing amphipods absolutely everywhere one month in a young tank, only for them to all just disappear into the rockwork the next month.

Whatever you're doing, let us know! I'd love to make a copepod bloom happen on purpose...all the time

Its had fish in it since late February, no idea if thats still considered young lol.

jaxteller007 · Jul 6, 2020

andrewey said:
Maybe it would help if you could describe how many we're talking here or provide a photo? Is this just during the night or do you see them crawling around during the day? Is it only on the glass or can you see them on the rocks or in the water column?

ichthyogeek said:
How old is your tank? A number of tanks "suffer" a pod bloom during the maturation process. I remember being ecstatic at seeing amphipods absolutely everywhere one month in a young tank, only for them to all just disappear into the rockwork the next month.

Whatever you're doing, let us know! I'd love to make a copepod bloom happen on purpose...all the time

Here is today. Definitely worse during the day, at night you barely see any. I did see some decent sized critters crawling around in the fuge this morning.

jaxteller007 · Jul 7, 2020

jaxteller007 · Jul 8, 2020

It is really hard to take good pictures of this bloom lol.
#reefsquad

Billldg · Jul 8, 2020

I first saw the LT tang and thought, hey, that's my tank, LOL!!! I personally have not had any issues with to many pods, so I really can't help much. I do know that some wrasses, along with mandarins, will eat pods. I do believe a Pink Streak wrasse will eat pods without the aggression of a 6 line wrasse. #reefsquad

jaxteller007 · Jul 8, 2020

Billldg said:
I first saw the LT tang and thought, hey, that's my tank, LOL!!! I personally have not had any issues with to many pods, so I really can't help much. I do know that some wrasses, along with mandarins, will eat pods. I do believe a Pink Streak wrasse will eat pods without the aggression of a 6 line wrasse. #reefsquad

Lol I love Lt Dan. We haven't had him that long but he is growing like a weed. Was probably the size of our coral beauty when we got him and he's at least twice that now.
Smart too. If I walk close to the tank he comes right up front and starts swimming back and forth like "yo where's the food at man?"

jaxteller007 · Jul 8, 2020

Billldg said:
I first saw the LT tang and thought, hey, that's my tank, LOL!!! I personally have not had any issues with to many pods, so I really can't help much. I do know that some wrasses, along with mandarins, will eat pods. I do believe a Pink Streak wrasse will eat pods without the aggression of a 6 line wrasse. #reefsquad

We have a scooter blenny that I'm sure is loving them and a melenarus wrasse (not sure if they eat them). A mandarin is on the wife's list for sure. I would think the CBB and filefish might eat them cause their mouths are so small.

kireek · Jul 8, 2020

jaxteller007 said:
We have a scooter blenny that I'm sure is loving them and a melenarus wrasse (not sure if they eat them). A mandarin is on the wife's list for sure. I would think the CBB and filefish might eat them cause their mouths are so small.

Your Melenarus and Copper Band should be interested in these.What types and how much fish food are you feeding?

lion king · Jul 9, 2020

I tried running a fishless reef once, I had amphipods the size of jumbo shrimp(lol), they were actually eating my corals. At the time many poopoo'd me, but I tell you that is exactly what was happening. Amphipods and copepods are different, so I'm not saying copepods would do the same thing. I added a pink streaked wrasse and he solved my problem, and ended of being my favorite all time nano fish.

jaxteller007 · Jul 9, 2020

kireek said:
Your Melenarus and Copper Band should be interested in these.What types and how much fish food are you feeding?

Mix of dry, frozen and Nori sheets for the tangs. Not starving them by any means as I over skim and stuff. Maybe cutting down on the feeding would get them going after the pods more? The CBB is new so I was wary of it not eating right.

jaxteller007 · Jul 14, 2020

Video shows it better for sure. Hopefully the UV sterilizer we just added helps reduce this some. It's getting old having ugly water lol. #reefsquad

kireek · Jul 15, 2020

jaxteller007 said:
Mix of dry, frozen and Nori sheets for the tangs. Not starving them by any means as I over skim and stuff. Maybe cutting down on the feeding would get them going after the pods more? The CBB is new so I was wary of it not eating right.

You're right to worry about the Copper Band.Those can be difficult to keep -period. Does yours go after the frozen food ? If so consider yourself lucky,lol. If you can't cut back on food maybe you could try adding a few more corals for natural nutrient control.Preferably something that would eat the critters unfortunate enough to get near them. A Euphyillia comes to mind.Provided that the parameters are stable enough for more corals. I might just be making excuses for you to buy more corals though.