Thousands of Copepods

[rsav]

Hi. I have thousands of copepods in my 75g tank. I went out of town for the thanksgiving weekend and when I came back there are thousands of little white bugs in my tank. I am pretty sure they are copepods.

They have clouded the water and are all over the glass. The water is cloudy because there are so many of them swimming around. Only one of my clownfish seem interested in eating them when the copepods are in the water flow. I have another clownfish and a tailspot blenny which are not eating them.

I don't know if my corals are eating them. The copepods are so small that I cannot tell if the coral tentacles are catching them.

I read that copepods are good, but they are making the water real cloudy. Any recommendations?

[Lemeshianos]

yeap. put them in bottles and sell them.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I seriously doubt the pods are causing the cloudy water. Run some tests and post your water params please.

[snorvich]

I seriously doubt the pods are causing the cloudy water. Run some tests and post your water params please.

What she said. What do you dose, if anything?

[myram]

You can buy them on Ebay, looks like a new business for you.

Steve

[ReefHoboBum]

I would agree. Also, if your fish is not eating them, it's also possible they are not copepods. I recommend you try and tank a few pictures so we can see what you are dealing with.

I seriously doubt the pods are causing the cloudy water. Run some tests and post your water params please.

[t4zalews]

picture would be good. Never seen copepods swimming, mysis swim. Be also weird for you to never notice them and then after 4 days you have thousands. Takes a while for those kinds of populations to grow. If they grew that fast..everyone would have mandarins.

[rsav]

They are just free floating in the water, not really swimming. I change my water about twice a week, so it is very clean. However, I will test the water later. I use Instant Ocean.

I only have a camera phone, so the picture is bad. The white bugs have a tail from what I can see, they are so small. I have been adding a lot of new corals lately so maybe they hitchhiked.

I do not dose anything. I just feed the corals some pellets and occasionally oyster feast.

The photo below was taken with my camera phone. The picture is of the side glass, impossible to get a shot head on. You can see the algae scraper on the top left for size reference.

http://i.imgur.com/7XfMB.png

[monkeyman14554]

do you have alot of coral in your tank are you sure one didnt spawn... do you use floss of any kind... i dont so after a spawing event little egg like structures used to float around the tank.. if you use some floss or hook up a hang on the back filter it should clear them up... then through that floss in a refugium and see what happens lol hehe..

[rsav]

I needed to replace the filter pads in the sump. They were so clogged that it was completely bypassing one of the baffles. Maybe that is why the copepods were out in numbers. I am sure that is also the reason why the water was so cloudy. Maybe the protein skimmer (octopus 150) isn't grabbing enough as well.

[Psirex]

if you have that many in your tank get a mandarin:bounce1:

[Agu]

How are your fish and corals reacting ?

I've had rock anemones spawn in my tanks and it gets cloudy with similar white dots throughout the tank. It cleared up in 24 hours and the tank never looked better.

[rsav]

How are your fish and corals reacting ?

I've had rock anemones spawn in my tanks and it gets cloudy with similar white dots throughout the tank. It cleared up in 24 hours and the tank never looked better.

My corals and fish are doing great. I am not sure if anything spawned. However, the dots on the glass are definitely moving and hopping around. I can see a tail on them, they look exactly like copepods photos I have searched on the internet.

After cleaning the sump pads the water is clearing up a little bit at a time.

[Agu]

My speculation would be either a spawning event or a bacterial bloom. Either one would look similar except that a bacterial bloom would reduce oxygen and stress your fish and corals.

In any case I'd suggest cleaning/replacing the filter pads often. Something breaking down in the filter pads could degrade water quality quickly.

Good Luck ....

[rsav]

I have changed filter pads, cleaned the skimmer and changed water. The copepods, or whatever they may be, are still all over the glass. They are also making the water cloudy because they are in the water column too.

How do I get rid of these copepods? I am afraid to put a mandarin fish because they seem to be hard to keep and I do not want it to starve in the future if it eats all of the copepods.

[defchild84]

the pods on your glass .... means you are doing a great job. After 4 days, you SHOULD have a glass coated in 'white pods' and a light film of algae. Nothing you can't take off with the mag scraper. However, the 'white cloudiness' in your water column IS more than unusual, and should be looked into..... On the other note, what kind of corals do you have? My hard corals and all others thrive on these lil pods, and find it more than beneficial to have these lil buggers. Like stated earlier though... you should look into the cloudiness! good luck!!

[t4zalews]

Recently my water looked really cloudy and it was because my skimmer had something in the needle wheel so it wasnt breaking the air properly. After removing it the skimmer went back to normal operation and my water was clear as air. Do you have foam in your sump on the surface of the water?

[moogoomoogoo]

look at them under a microscope

[ReefHoboBum]

Yea, i'm not convinced it's copepods so far.

[MHG]

Thats what my pods look like when the lights first come on.

[rsav]

I took apart the skimmer and cleaned it out. Water is very clear now. The little bugs are still there on the glass but i dont think they are in the water. The corals and fish are doing great. I think that the skimmer needed to be cleaned.

My 75g tank:

http://i.imgur.com/I6qEm.jpg

[Agu]

Here's what anemone spawning looks like...

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/totm/testpop.htm?images/Anemone-Eggs.jpg

[danil]

Cloudy water could be some bacteria bloom. White bugs on the glass (crawling etc) is a good thing. After initial 'bloom' they will reduce their population when original resources will get depleted. You can enjoy the situation and get mandarin dragonet. Its awesome fish - one of the best! But can only live in tanks with live pods population.