Copepods - showing up without me pouring any in?? Possible??

D3DPrintedThingz · May 22, 2022

75g stocked with 70 lbs dry rock 9 lbs live rock from LFS and about 60 lb of live sand. Close to 5 months in, started using RODI water last week and diatoms magically became under control. RODI water is worth it 100%.

i noticed this morning little tiny white specks moving on inside of glass. I believ them to be copepods (nice!!) however I never seeded the tank with any pods. There’s probably 500 on the front of the glass, seemingly overnight???

can they show up on their own, and as long as no drastic swings in tank levels - can I expect the population to grow and stabilize so I could look into getting a mandarin soon???
Note: I see my yellowtail damsel picking at rocks like it’s eating algae off them, but they’re bare. Is she picking at copepods??

Jeffcb · May 22, 2022

They probably hitch a ride in on something.

homer1475 · May 22, 2022

No, there is no immaculate conception in a reef tank, lol.

My guess would be the 9lbs of live rock.

livinlifeinBKK · May 22, 2022

They hitchhiked on the live rock...

D3DPrintedThingz · May 22, 2022

homer1475 said:
No, there is no immaculate conception in a reef tank, lol.

My guess would be the 9lbs of live rock.

Did it take them 4 months to breed a high enough population? Also would they have survived a cycle? And are they here to stay?

homer1475 · May 22, 2022

Yes, yes, and yes.

JumboShrimp · May 22, 2022

Hopefully they are all starting to pick marriage mates, and soon you’ll have babies!

D3DPrintedThingz · May 22, 2022

homer1475 said:
Yes, yes, and yes.

Yessssssssssssssss when should I look into getting a mandarin? 2 clowns and yellowtail currently

Dburr1014 · May 22, 2022

ilikefish69 said:
Yessssssssssssssss when should I look into getting a mandarin? 2 clowns and yellowtail currently

Not yet, tank needs to mature and stabilize population.

Tuan’s Reef · May 22, 2022

ilikefish69 said:
Yessssssssssssssss when should I look into getting a mandarin? 2 clowns and yellowtail currently

it will take some time before the population builds up for a mandarin. Do you have a refugium for the copepods to thrive in ? get some phyto too

homer1475 · May 22, 2022

Dburr1014 said:
Not yet, tank needs to mature and stabilize population.

This ^^

Tuan’s Reef said:
it will take some time before the population builds up for a mandarin. Do you have a refugium for the copepods to thrive in ? get some phyto too

And even more this ^^

D3DPrintedThingz · May 22, 2022

homer1475 said:
This ^^

And even more this ^^

I have a Fiji cube overflow box, and tempered glass. Going to take it back to LFS as I have tempered glass aquarium so no drilling. Going to order overflow that doesn’t require drilling. Saw the 800 GPH tag and didn’t realize it needed drilling.

plan is to have about 30 lbs of addtl live rock, and some more sand in refugium. Have a 20g wal mart tank going under it inside the stand. Have to figure out plumbing, feeling overwhelmed lol.

dumb question warning, sorry. What is phyto

homer1475 · May 22, 2022

Phytoplankton.

The most basic food in the ocean, and the building block to life in the ocean. IMO

Tuan’s Reef · May 22, 2022

phyto is phytoplankton. Its food for copepods and filter feeders.

ZombieEngineer · May 22, 2022

They came in on the live rock if you dip your corals and quarantine your fish (if you don't you should. I got velvet once from a mandarin that killed at least $3000 worth of livestock).

If you don't dip your corals, they can hitchhike from there. I always see a few copepods dead in my dip water.

Less likely, but sometimes there are free swimming copepods in the water with your fish.

Regardless, copepods are a huge benefit to your tank, so regardless of how they got there, you want them. Same with bristleworms, spaghetti worms, asterina starfish, and sponges. You buy live rock so that these kinds of critters can populate your tank.

vetteguy53081 · May 22, 2022

often hiding in rocks and crevices and even under or within frag plugs

D3DPrintedThingz · Jun 29, 2022

Update - wanting mandarin as lucky #3. Copepods are everywhere on the glass. I have a refugium 29g where I am keeping 30 lb of live rock, and the copepods are also thriving in there. What's the call on introducing a mandarin now?