copepods: good or bad?

[shwnicus]

howdy,

I've had my 20 gal reef going strong for about 3 months now. I notice a lot of these clear bug looking things in my LR, especially at night. look like a lot of em. from what I gather from reading these are copepods. they give me the willies , but are they a good thing or a bad thing? should I leave em, or get something in my tank that eats them (my clowns obviously don't). current stock is in my sig. thanks!

 

[aresgod]

they are good....in a tank that small it is tough to maintain a population large enough to support something that eats solely copepods.

 

[FroggyFox]

They are good

 

[lordroad]

They are very good to have. And yeah a copepod eating fish or critter would only be a good idea to have if they eat something else too.

I have a mandarin in my ten but he eats roe. Also I tried the whole copepod farming thing, and my first attempt was a failure, but I grow what seems like a million in my vase. If they bug you too much I guess you can clean them off with a sponge at night when they congregate on the glass.

 

[wayne]

Thjey are better than good.

 

[Joe Fish]

I seen a bottle at a LFS that said copepods on it for $25. The bottle was clear and a green piece of string looking thing was inside. What is that? I seen that green string thing in one of their display tanks and a fishie was eating it.

 

[cinlnk]

I have noticed alot of them in my tank also.... it has been up and running since Febuary. I was not sure what they were until now. They look like transparent fleas floating all around. If Lord,Ares and Wayne say they are good to have, that's all I need to know.

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Put it this way; I would be worried if you didn't have any in your tank at this stage!

 

[shwnicus]

hi again all,

retouching on this one. here I am 9 months later, everything still going strong, especially the mushroom corals. but to the point...

now I have TONS of copepods in there. when I feed the clowns, the LR literally seethes with these things! the seem to really upset my green polyps too as every time a copepod touches one they close up. translation, my polyps stay closed up a lot. is there ever a point where I need to think about controlling the population of these things?

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

holy cow... i say bait and sell! no way i have never heard of that problem before.

 

[Lorna]

I think you need to take a picture of what it is in your tank that you are looking at .. .... yes it sounds like copepods but they shouldn't be affecting your polyps...exactly how big are they? they aren't isopods are they? which are not a bad thing either.....depending on what kind they are.....

If they are copepods and they are that prolific and they bother you that much you could get a fish that does eat them, but not something like a mandarin that is solely dependant on them. Some fish such as some wrasses will eat them ..

 

[shwnicus]

tried taking a picture but they don't come out, my camera isn't good enough. they clearly aren't eating the polyps, but when they forage around the polyp's rim, it will close. some of them are fairly big (for a copepod), maybe even 1/2 an inch long.

I don't think a 20 gallon tank is big enough to support another fish. won't peppermint shrimp eat copepods? I though I read somewhere that they will. was thinking maybe of trying that. had one a long time ago and really liked it. less bioload than a fish too.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

if you ever decide to catch and sell... i'll buy. i have yet to see one. well i saw one ONCE... just after i set my tank up.

 

[shwnicus]

btw, I'm mostly curious if they ever become a problem that needs to be controlled. I don't have a problem with them per-say, and I know they are considered a good thing. just wondering if there is ever too-much of a good thing.

 

[TRe]

i think i herd that over time they wear down the rocks or something

 

[Igor The Cat]

the 1/2" ones may very well be mysis

cheers

-Java

 

[ram man]

copepods do not wear down the rocks, and instead of mysis i would suspect the 1/2" ones to be amphipods

 

[TRe]

thats what the guy who owns the lfs by me told me ... he said over time they wear down the rocks but it takes so long not to worry about it

 

[Joe Fish]

How could they wear down the rock? Do you mean physically or just by lowering the bacteria and what not on and inside the rock?

 

[ram man]

the lfs guy sounds like he is full of crap, i usualy never listen to the lfs.