Pod explosion in fry tank

Ooulophilia · 09/12/2006, 12:11 PM

I was checking one of my fry tanks last night and noticed that the walls were crawling with pods of which there seemed to be two distinct sizes of. I lost some eggs in this hatch so there were probably some excess nutrients. I siphoned some out - they were to small for me to get a picture of (the large ones were about a quarter of the size of 3 day old maroon fry, the smaller less then a grain of sand). I have seen many different critters in fuges before, but I could not place these guys (They had one larger body structure in front and a much smaller one in back - my best description of the larger ones is a tiny sandcrab). In the tank they moved in a jerky motion on the sides at the top of the water, but when siphoned into a test tube they wheeled like mysids. They actually seem to be shying away from the fry, so I am not overly concerned (could be good scavengers or future food?).
I am hoping this is not some fry eating pod - should I be concerned/any experiences?
This may be a nonconcern anyway, because at the time I was dropping the salinity from 024 to 020 so maybe they won't be there this morning.

MimicTang · 09/12/2006, 01:34 PM

how did they even get in there?

Ooulophilia · 09/12/2006, 10:50 PM

I managed to figure out the source - one of my rotifer cultures (at 1.017) had been grown a weird chunky algae which I was siphoning off the bottom, and lo and behold, although it wasn't swarming with them they were in it. I restarted that culture, but I kept some of the pods in 5 gallon as I saw some of the fry lining up the smaller ones - maybe they could be handy in the future.

edit - I was searching for pictures and they appear to be extremely similar to the pods that MWP posted pics of a while ago

MimicTang · 09/13/2006, 04:01 PM

be wary if they live on the glass. You may find your fry having mouth problems form bumping against the glass tryingto eat?

jake levi · 09/14/2006, 06:16 AM

The population will stabilize, if the fry are larger the pods will soon become brunch.

Compare this brood of fry with others without the pod bloom. It could be serendiptious.

09/12/2006, 12:11 PM	#1
Ooulophilia Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Norcal Posts: 482	Pod explosion in fry tank I was checking one of my fry tanks last night and noticed that the walls were crawling with pods of which there seemed to be two distinct sizes of. I lost some eggs in this hatch so there were probably some excess nutrients. I siphoned some out - they were to small for me to get a picture of (the large ones were about a quarter of the size of 3 day old maroon fry, the smaller less then a grain of sand). I have seen many different critters in fuges before, but I could not place these guys (They had one larger body structure in front and a much smaller one in back - my best description of the larger ones is a tiny sandcrab). In the tank they moved in a jerky motion on the sides at the top of the water, but when siphoned into a test tube they wheeled like mysids. They actually seem to be shying away from the fry, so I am not overly concerned (could be good scavengers or future food?). I am hoping this is not some fry eating pod - should I be concerned/any experiences? This may be a nonconcern anyway, because at the time I was dropping the salinity from 024 to 020 so maybe they won't be there this morning.

09/12/2006, 10:50 PM	#3
Ooulophilia Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Norcal Posts: 482	I managed to figure out the source - one of my rotifer cultures (at 1.017) had been grown a weird chunky algae which I was siphoning off the bottom, and lo and behold, although it wasn't swarming with them they were in it. I restarted that culture, but I kept some of the pods in 5 gallon as I saw some of the fry lining up the smaller ones - maybe they could be handy in the future. edit - I was searching for pictures and they appear to be extremely similar to the pods that MWP posted pics of a while ago Last edited by Ooulophilia; 09/12/2006 at 11:37 PM.

09/14/2006, 06:16 AM	#5
jake levi Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: North Central Michigan Posts: 543	The population will stabilize, if the fry are larger the pods will soon become brunch. Compare this brood of fry with others without the pod bloom. It could be serendiptious. __________________ Jake We are all in this together Current Tank Info: reef tanks oriented towards pairs of reef fish

09/12/2006, 01:34 PM	#2
MimicTang Moved On Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Hartford CT Posts: 1,517	how did they even get in there?

09/13/2006, 04:01 PM	#4
MimicTang Moved On Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Hartford CT Posts: 1,517	be wary if they live on the glass. You may find your fry having mouth problems form bumping against the glass tryingto eat?