Amphipods & Copepods

[gnashty]

Typically by the time i get home my 10k's are off and just the actinic is on so i cant see much of the tiny tiny stuff in my tank. I got home early yesterday while they were still on and I could not beleive the amount of Amphipods crawling around on my substrate, several hundred at least just on the sand.
I know these are good guys but I want to control it a bit, what are some good fish/incerts to reduce the Amphipod population? Gobie? Wrasse? Blenny?

I also have what I beleive to be copepods or hydroids all over the glass, the rock, and overflows. They look like fine peices of white substrate. They are hard to scrape off during cleaning and kind of unsightly and just multiply anyway. Any control/removal methods here?

[brianjfinn]

If it's for your 210, I'd say you might be able to do a Mandarin, if the tank is really established.

The second thing you mentioned doesn't sound like copepods. Copepods are similar to amphipods and mysis shrimp, in that they swim around like little bugs. There might be a fish that eats what you're describing (can't remember the name, but check the New Member Q&A sticky).

[gnashty]

Originally Posted by brianjfinn

If it's for your 210, I'd say you might be able to do a Mandarin, if the tank is really established.

The second thing you mentioned doesn't sound like copepods. Copepods are similar to amphipods and mysis shrimp, in that they swim around like little bugs. There might be a fish that eats what you're describing (can't remember the name, but check the New Member Q&A sticky).

It is for my 210, its only been up for about 9 months and only recently converted to a reef in the last 2 months so I would vote no for being an established tank.

I have seen some info on the Mandarin last night doing research and also the disclaimers of the difficulty of keeping this type of fish and their sole diet of Amphipods. I really need to stay away from hard to keep fish/super specialized diets until my experience level is up a bit and I have better equipment to support my water quality. I am currently battling an ich outbreak

[blu_devl_06]

Mandarin's are difficult to keep because of their diet. If you have that many pods breeding, you may very well be ok, assuming of course that you have a fuge where they can breed when the supply in the DT dwindles. Also, some wrasses have been know to eat at the pods....

[Budsreef]

I'd wait until you don't have any ich before adding anything but once that is gone, I'd add a couple of Yellow Coris Wrasses. They are active feeders all day long are very peaceful and are fun to watch.

[gnashty]

Originally Posted by blu_devl_06

Mandarin's are difficult to keep because of their diet. If you have that many pods breeding, you may very well be ok, assuming of course that you have a fuge where they can breed when the supply in the DT dwindles. Also, some wrasses have been know to eat at the pods....

No Fuge - im basically bare bones on my set up - no room and no money!! soon though

[gnashty]

Originally Posted by Budsreef

I'd wait until you don't have any ich before adding anything but once that is gone, I'd add a couple of Yellow Coris Wrasses. They are active feeders all day long are very peaceful and are fun to watch.

Unfortunately I dont think the Ich will ever truly go away...i was thinking a wrasse type would do well and help maybe eat a few of them

[ares]

oh the ich WILL go away, or the fish that has it will

they are extremely beneficial and would not trade them in unless you WANT the fish that eats them, they will scavange on your tank like no clean up crew ever could, and will also feed corals. a healthy pod pop is a very very good thing.

[gnashty]

Originally Posted by ares

oh the ich WILL go away, or the fish that has it will

they are extremely beneficial and would not trade them in unless you WANT the fish that eats them, they will scavange on your tank like no clean up crew ever could, and will also feed corals. a healthy pod pop is a very very good thing.

I thought the ich always lived in the tank once it fell off the fish, and their life cycle continues under the right conditions. I thought the only way to truly get rid of ich is to let the tank go fallow for 30 days or more.

I do want a wrasse, goby or other fish of that type and I do want my pod population for its benefits but there are just so many of them I want to control their numbers a bit.

[ga_daisy]

For the ich....get a cleaner shrimp. For the pods....I can't imagine having "too many" or wanting to control numbers. Maybe something that I'm missing here.

[Cjsparky]

I so wish I had a bunch of pods...I find a few in my filter sock whenever I change it out, and dump them back in the tank, but I never really see them around in the tank.

CJ

[gnashty]

Originally Posted by ga_daisy

For the ich....get a cleaner shrimp. For the pods....I can't imagine having "too many" or wanting to control numbers. Maybe something that I'm missing here.

Got one, he's a worker too.

Granted, I knew nothing of these little creatures until last night after I saw them and did a little research. I know they are good I just have so many - I counted over 200 in an 8" x 8" area on the substrate and my tank has a floor space of 84" x 24" - thats ALOT of freakin pods.

[ares]

based on autopsy's (if thats the right word for a shrimp...) they did not find significant ich in their digestive system, indicating they do not do much of anything to it. they may clean fish, but not of ich.

ich, for my purposes, is a visible thing on the fish, might it exist and be invisible waiting to strike? I believe so, but if I cant see it, I presume its not bothering the fish. common cold is in the air, but if I dont have it, Im not concerned.

pods will handle themselves, if they have food, they will thrive, if they run out of food, they will fade. so long as they are thriving it means they are eating something, and thats a good thing. theres no drawback to them at all.

[gnashty]

ok, so maybe its just me not wanting to look at the pods..I have also heard a cleaner shrimp does not eat ich, they may knock some off of the fish but will not actually ingest it/remove it from your system to the point of eradication. I guess they key is keeping healthy hapy fish and the "ich in the system" will not be able to take hold

Originally Posted by ares

based on autopsy's (if thats the right word for a shrimp...) they did not find significant ich in their digestive system, indicating they do not do much of anything to it. they may clean fish, but not of ich.

ich, for my purposes, is a visible thing on the fish, might it exist and be invisible waiting to strike? I believe so, but if I cant see it, I presume its not bothering the fish. common cold is in the air, but if I dont have it, Im not concerned.

pods will handle themselves, if they have food, they will thrive, if they run out of food, they will fade. so long as they are thriving it means they are eating something, and thats a good thing. theres no drawback to them at all.

[ares]

thats pretty much it. some say through diligent quarentine you can keep it from ever being introduced... I dont think I believe this, but I cant disprove it either. one of those things that is true untill they get ich, and then because they got ich, they must not have quarentined well enough... so its kind of a circle.

[ga_daisy]

Wow....well I just learned something. For whatever reason, I've always thought that cleaner shrimp would help with ich.

Thanks for clearing that up....

[gnashty]

Sparky - I just happen to have a fish trap in my tank right now with food in it for 3 days, didnt catch my fish but just saw hundreds of amphipods in the trap on the food - I can trap em up if you want to come and get them..

Originally Posted by Cjsparky

I so wish I had a bunch of pods...I find a few in my filter sock whenever I change it out, and dump them back in the tank, but I never really see them around in the tank.

CJ

[06Strom]

Self serving post about my own post.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ght=marine+ich

If you read nothing else on there, read the first article from WetWetMedia. It's relatively short, easy to read, and correct.

[gnashty]

read a couple days ago - good stuff. thanks for posting it

Originally Posted by 06Strom

Self serving post about my own post.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ght=marine+ich

If you read nothing else on there, read the first article from WetWetMedia. It's relatively short, easy to read, and correct.