Is it possible to have too many copepods?

[RobW]

Every panel of my son's nano tank is crawling with them. Every time I approach the tank I keep thinking its micro bubbles from the little skimmer. You might be able to see them on the back panel in this photo. But all the glass looks like this too.

 

[Dimmy007]

How many fish do you have in the tank?

 

[RobW]

Just one. It's a 13.5 gallon nano

 

[Demonic]

Have as many as you can feed, meaning they will die off when the food supply is gone. You will maintain a level that your tank can handle.

 

[Pbh-reef]

The pods are better than an algae explosion or super high nitrate. By eating leftover food and algae they’re part of the tanks clean up crew. Consider feeding less. You can also get a fish that eats pods like a possum wrasse. (The tank is too small for a mandarin)

 

[Phycodurus]

cool, cool, cool.

how old is the tank btw??

 

[RobW]

3 months, maybe a little more. I feed once a day. Now that I think of it, it probably is the couple of drops a day of phyto-feast for the 5 little coral frags in the tank. I have a xenia that has doubled in size in a 2 month span. Then I recently got a star polyp, 2 zoas, and a ricordea. It says 1-5 drops per gallon on the bottle. I feed the minimum

 

[Demonic]

That’s why you have the explosion of pods. Nothing wrong with that, good sign

 

[Phycodurus]

hehe, and i was going to ask if it might be worthwhile to start feeding the tank phyto to keep up the pod population.

 

[Pbh-reef]

3 months, maybe a little more. I feed once a day. Now that I think of it, it probably is the couple of drops a day of phyto-feast for the 5 little coral frags in the tank. I have a xenia that has doubled in size in a 2 month span. Then I recently got a star polyp, 2 zoas, and a ricordea. It says 1-5 drops per gallon on the bottle. I feed the minimum

Sounds likely it is from phyto dosing in which case the pods are just a good sign! If, you want you can get a fish that will eat pods like a possum wrasse, Pygmy geometric perchlet, a captive bread rainford goby, etc. or you can do nothing different and enjoy all the tiny life in the tank.

 

[HaveFishWillTravel]

Sounds likely it is from phyto dosing in which case the pods are just a good sign! If, you want you can get a fish that will eat pods like a possum wrasse, Pygmy geometric perchlet, a captive bread rainford goby, etc. or you can do nothing different and enjoy all the tiny life in the tank.

Hi there, this is an old thread, but I too have a Pod explosion and it is freaking me out. I was feeding Phytoplankton a couple times per week no problems then, started Reef Roids and used them a few times and the Pods really busted out. I do 20% water changes every 10 days and Params are good. The problem I see is my smaller zoas are getting trampled (I think). I watch my tank at night with a flashlight which anyone with a reef tank should do as there is so much activity. The Pods are scrambling all over the smaller zoas. Several of them are no longer opening up at all. This has happened very quickly. Everyone else is flourishing. I have a wide variety of corals mostly LPS, mushrooms, torches, Duncan’s, Hammer, Cephastreas, Acans, Nems, 2 clownfish and a Damsel. thanks for your help!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

cool, cool, cool.

how old is the tank btw??

Is this an actual shirt? If so fess up with the link lol

 

[RobB'z Reef]

No such thing as too many pods. They'll sort themselves out based on available food source. Just a sign of a healthy system.

 

[ZoWhat]

If you catch a Pod standing in front of your Fridge at 330am looking for a snack..... then maybe you have one too many

 

[RobB'z Reef]

If you catch a Pod standing in front of your Fridge at 330am looking for a snack..... then maybe you have one too many

Have you seen that? Just curious, I've had some amazing escapees before haha!

 

[CyberGuy]

Complaining that you have too many pods is like complaining that you have too much money

 

[HaveFishWillTravel]

Complaining that you have too many pods is like complaining that you have too much money

Very funny remarks from everyone, but honestly not that helpful for me nor my zoanthids...sorry for being a newbie in this area. I put the photos of my tank out there so you could see that so far things have been going relatively well. Now, I am looking for some help as to possible reason why my smaller, shorter zoas are dying. I am paying very close attention to my tank. I take really good care of it. I change my water. I dose KH & Ca, I spot feed my corals as they need it. I have high end equipment. I can’t walk by tank without checking it to make sure things are going as they should. I have an APEX with probes that I monitor. I have built charts looking at watts/amps overlaying my various equipment to see what is going versus my Salinity/ORP/pH/Temp.
I try really hard. Mostly, I care about the 55 little animals that live in there. I can also not take myself too seriously, but come on guys...cut me some slack here.

 

[jaxteller007]

I've had a massive population for months. It can make the water not look "clean" but our fish such love it.

 

[CyberGuy]

Very funny remarks from everyone, but honestly not that helpful for me nor my zoanthids...sorry for being a newbie in this area. I put the photos of my tank out there so you could see that so far things have been going relatively well. Now, I am looking for some help as to possible reason why my smaller, shorter zoas are dying. I am paying very close attention to my tank. I take really good care of it. I change my water. I dose KH & Ca, I spot feed my corals as they need it. I have high end equipment. I can’t walk by tank without checking it to make sure things are going as they should. I have an APEX with probes that I monitor. I have built charts looking at watts/amps overlaying my various equipment to see what is going versus my Salinity/ORP/pH/Temp.
I try really hard. Mostly, I care about the 55 little animals that live in there. I can also not take myself too seriously, but come on guys...cut me some slack here.

If you put a small damsel or a small wrasse in there, your pods will disappear in no time and then you will wish that you have more pods.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Very funny remarks from everyone, but honestly not that helpful for me nor my zoanthids...sorry for being a newbie in this area. I put the photos of my tank out there so you could see that so far things have been going relatively well. Now, I am looking for some help as to possible reason why my smaller, shorter zoas are dying. I am paying very close attention to my tank. I take really good care of it. I change my water. I dose KH & Ca, I spot feed my corals as they need it. I have high end equipment. I can’t walk by tank without checking it to make sure things are going as they should. I have an APEX with probes that I monitor. I have built charts looking at watts/amps overlaying my various equipment to see what is going versus my Salinity/ORP/pH/Temp.
I try really hard. Mostly, I care about the 55 little animals that live in there. I can also not take myself too seriously, but come on guys...cut me some slack here.

Based on your response you are taking yourself way to seriously. Read between the lines on all these answers.... Pods are good, that's what everyone is telling you.