Harvesting Copepods from a tank with pests

[Nossatron]

Heya reefers

Finally getting NSW into my 10ft system! Great times.

However I've hit a hurdle re: Copepod introduction. I want to try include them as being a 2000l display tank cannot afford to be chasing my tail combating 50 shades of ugly.

My current 450l system is ripe with copepods, amphipods, mysis shirmp & Stomatella Snails that's I'd like to transfer over.

However it also has aiptasia, flatworm, asterina starfish, bristleworms and white spot that I want to try avoid. Not sooo concerned if bristle worms make it over but certainly don't want the others.

Now how on earth do I go about transferring them over? Amphipods, mysis and the Snails will all be tricky in their own way, they're possible to physically catch. Most copepods I find I end up squishing by the time I get to a transfer container.
Concerns:
•Cannot legally order pods into my country
•No local clean sources
▪︎Stomatella Snails shell a possible ingress of aiptasia (too small to sand or dip)
•Catching copepods on the glass amongst the algae as they're too small
• White Spot/Ich also present - possible water ingress. Do I need to go fellow for 76 days after adding pods from infected tank?
•How many will I need to successfully propagate system


Any help is appreciated

Cheers!

 

[KrisReef]

Clean the old tank of pests first, treat remove aptasia, go fallow, and if you are lucky you won't transfer any bad boys.

Wear gloves when you work in the tank

 

[Nossatron]

Clean the old tank of pests first, treat remove aptasia, go fallow, and if you are lucky you won't transfer any bad boys.

Wear gloves when you work in the tank

Clean the old tank of pests first, treat remove aptasia, go fallow, and if you are lucky you won't transfer any bad boys.

Wear gloves when you work in the tank *

I honestly don't think the tank is treatable in a functional amount of time. The aiptasia is in the hundreds, the Euphyllia Eating flat worms don't die to anything but physical removal and well I don't know if I can treat it. Currently very overstocked with fish and rock.

Is there a way to add say an algae slate to the sump overnight to attract them? Remove to another container and simply hand pick the larger ones?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Flatworm exit + berghia nudibranches in the old tank. Then the only thing left is asterinas, which are not really a pest. If you really think they are, a pair of harlequin shrimp will put a good dent in them or eliminate them entirely.

 

[Nossatron]

Flatworm exit + berghia nudibranches in the old tank. Then the only thing left is asterinas, which are not really a pest. If you really think they are, a pair of harlequin shrimp will put a good dent in them or eliminate them entirely.

Flatworm Exit doesn't work on these fellas. Higher concentrations can seem to get them to move but does not kill. In the past removal of the frag and a dip in Levamisole Hydrochloride, would really tick them off, fresh water dip, then manual scrub to remove egg deposits, iodine dip or protect dip for the coral and back in the tank.

No Harequin Shrimp aloud. 99/100 asterina stars are OK, of late I've been finding them eating my zoas. They latch on over a head and consume them. Only one or two at a time but they have been caught.

Also no nudibranches allowed either. Our local laws around protecting our waters are very very strict!

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Your politicians and bureaucrats are idiots. Berghias are no risk to reefs, they only eat aptasia which is an invasive species anyway. Gotta love when people who know nothing about something make sweeping laws about stuff.

Army of peppermint shrimp plus kalk paste manual removal is really your only option then for aptasia.

 

[Nossatron]

Your politicians and bureaucrats are idiots. Berghias are no risk to reefs, they only eat aptasia which is an invasive species anyway. Gotta love when people who know nothing about something make sweeping laws about stuff.

Army of peppermint shrimp plus kalk paste manual removal is really your only option then for aptasia.

Unfortunately peppermint shrimp are as rare as hens teeth over here. Last bunch sold for $90 each almost 3 years ago that I can find on local forums. I could get a copperband to help decimate the population but I don't think it would survive how tightly packed the current system is. I've leave the hard way that aiptasia x can make the situation worse and there's literally hundreds. Since the project with the big system it's been a rush to finish.

I don't think it's wise to remove media from this "contaminated" tank without introducing everything. However it might be possible to lure multiple copepods to a food source and remove it into the 10ft.

EDIT: YES Our import laws are ridiculous.

 

[mehaffydr]

Do you have filter socks in your sump. I have found that I can harvest a lot of copepods out of my filter socks. Sometimes I will pull out fifty or more and I usally share them with fellow reefers because I have so many.
Another option is that there are 3D printed POD hotels that pods like to hide in and you can pull it out and transfer

 

[Nossatron]

I have since removed my filter floss but can add some more in as an option. Might be able to hand pick some goodies off of it over acouple days

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You can put a copepod hotel or new piece of small rubble into your tank for an overnight. The bugs should get in but should not be enough time for the pests to get in

 

[Nossatron]

You can put a copepod hotel or new piece of small rubble into your tank for an overnight. The bugs should get in but should not be enough time for the pests to get in

High risk, high reward

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Heya reefers

Finally getting NSW into my 10ft system! Great times.

However I've hit a hurdle re: Copepod introduction. I want to try include them as being a 2000l display tank cannot afford to be chasing my tail combating 50 shades of ugly.

My current 450l system is ripe with copepods, amphipods, mysis shirmp & Stomatella Snails that's I'd like to transfer over.

However it also has aiptasia, flatworm, asterina starfish, bristleworms and white spot that I want to try avoid. Not sooo concerned if bristle worms make it over but certainly don't want the others.

Now how on earth do I go about transferring them over? Amphipods, mysis and the Snails will all be tricky in their own way, they're possible to physically catch. Most copepods I find I end up squishing by the time I get to a transfer container.
Concerns:
•Cannot legally order pods into my country
•No local clean sources
▪︎Stomatella Snails shell a possible ingress of aiptasia (too small to sand or dip)
•Catching copepods on the glass amongst the algae as they're too small
• White Spot/Ich also present - possible water ingress. Do I need to go fellow for 76 days after adding pods from infected tank?
•How many will I need to successfully propagate system


Any help is appreciated

Cheers!

I'm in same boat. Have kicked this around a LOT... and for us I think it is going to take 3 tank situation...
- Original tank infested with good & bad
- remove what want to keep and go into interim QT tank(s) for 3+ months
- New tank (aka refurbished original tank that was flushed with bleach running thru plumbing)

Brine shrimp very fine mesh nets will help you catch pods. If you can't get these in New Zealand find those, search online for 25 micron cloth - hemp processing is making this much more common and cheap - and make your own net or water sieve. Likely you should QT those, but they are so easy to keep alive. This is what I do to grow them out:

raising tig pods - tiny 2.5g tank experimental culture #2

2nd attempt at raising tig pods is officially underway. Original attempt was outdoor lazy banana leaf method I found online - that is still underway but seems to be failing. Suspect Texas temperature and full day direct sunshine is too much, but that pod culture experiment still underway. 2nd...

forum.dfwmas.org

and my inspiration comes from (this is also called out in above thread, #5 post):
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/more-pods.835488/

Good luck to you!!

 

[i cant think]

Do you mind wrasses (or have a sand bed)?
If you don’t mind them and have a sand bed then Halichoeres leucoxanthus should do a nice dent in the flatworms, aquilonasterinas and bristleworms.

 

[Nossatron]

Do you mind wrasses (or have a sand bed)?
If you don’t mind them and have a sand bed then Halichoeres leucoxanthus should do a nice dent in the flatworms, aquilonasterinas and bristleworms.

Currently have 2 Yellow Coris Wrasse and just a flasher Wrasse (waste of time wrasse).

Sand bed is 65mm thick in the new display to hide pipe works.

Was hoping to eradicate prior to entry.

I don't mind bristle worms soo much as they're a stella clean up crew but having the luxury of not needing gloves would be amazing.

Starting the power copper transfer currently for all my fish stocks. Have just been drying off on paper towels and adding to the big tank for any pods I find on filters and and glass while cleaning.