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copepod/amphipod explosion


Bitricker

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In the last couple of days i noticed that there were some little white specs suspended in my water. Today I noticed that they were actually clinging to the glass and moving on their own. Am I correct to assume copepods/amphipods. The fish have been acting a little agitated(scary) for the past week or so and I read this could be the case if the free swimming population was large enough. Just curious if i should be concerned? They seem to be going after the algae on the glass and the fish seem less agitated day by day so if it's not an issue I'd just as soon leave them be. I've only had the tank about a month and a half but it's been running for 6 years. Is this just part of a cycle I haven't seen yet or do you think the population is on the rise? I have upgraded the lights and powerheads since I got the tank, and also added some animals. I Hadn't planned on adding anything else until I get my 150g up and running, but I will if I need to for balance.

 

In the 55g tank:

 

2 false percs

1 yellow tang

1 firefish

1 sebae anemone (newest addition about 2 weeks ago)

1 cleaner shrimp

4 sally lightfoot's

4-5 various hermit crabs

5 crowntop? snails

5 weird burrowing snails (nassarius maybe?)

1 sand sifter star

 

I thought it worth mentioning that the new light caused a bit of an algae increase, could increased food supply be the cause of the new population? Extra flow and skimming seems to be reversing this.

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Sounds good. I don't see any heavy pod eaters on your fish list. Time to get a Mandrin Goby. Some of us wish they had a pod explosion. You may want to check the skimmer a little more often. You could catch me a couple of hundred thousands. Im always looking to increase mine.(clap)

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Sallys are pretty cool crabs. I have seen many of them lunge at fish but most of the time it is more of a scare tactic. I don't think they are trying to catch the fish but I am sure that if the fish were injured, too slow, or something wasn't right that they would definatley try and catch it. Opportunistic critters. I will agree that 4 sallys in a 55g might be a bit too many but hey I bet there is some clean rock in there :)

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I've got a Sally Lightfoot available if anyone wants to swap a frag or something for it. Currently it's in my sump due to a suspected fish attack (goby attacked). Can't say for sure if it was the culprit or not as my tank is pretty aggresive with a few other potential culprits.

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The increased algae is probably the reason for the "outbreak" of copepods. In my opinion, you will doom a mandarin to death if you add one to your tank. They need at least 100 gallons. I would say if you must add something to cut the pod population down, add a melanarous wrasse or some other wrasse. They will eat the pods, be more likely to accept frozen foods once the pod population is cut back, and will benefit your tank by consuming pests.

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pods are good for a tank, but you shouldnt have tons of them, in a healthy system you will see a few here and there. A population explosion is due to poor husbandry, usually excess algae brought on by excess phosphates. Also pods will exploded in population when something has died, they are good scavangers and eat algae and fleshly substances.

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so far the sally's have been pretty peaceful, I got them because the tank was so filthy when I received it. I read that they usually only get aggressive as they get larger. Also I'm pretty sure that they are actually Flat rock crabs (Percnon planissimum) that will only get to be about an inch in diameter rather than actual sally light foots (Percnon gibbesi) that will get to be 3" or so in diameter. Then again I'm new to all this ... what do I know. It's not really an explosion ... more of a what the hell are those things ... lol. I'd just never seen them before so I wanted to make sure that that was what they were. My fish tend to scare the crabs away when they want to so I suspect they will only be eating fish if the fish is already weak or they get much larger. As soon as I find a new place to live I will be setting up my 150 so there will be a lot more space for everyone.

 

-Thanks for the replies

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