Charis Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 I purchased some new aquatic plants a couple of months ago from an online seller and apparently they came with an abundance of copepods. I ended up breaking down the tank, sterilizing it with alcohol, bleaching the driftwood and plants and boiling the substrate. I set everything up again, let it run for a while, added a cycled sponge filter and it became home to my new neos. Now, I'm seeing that there are copepod babies or eggs, or whatever they are all over the glass again. How in the world do I get rid of these things? Are they harmful to shrimp? Even if they are not, I'd like to figure out how to kill them because they seem to increase explosively and are quite an eye sore. Any ideas would be very appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percilus Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 (edited) I'd add something that will eat them. A small Tetra school would probably do it. They wouldn't harm your shrimp I don't think. What's a typical wild diet for a fish such as a tetra? With its iridescent blue and vivid red colors, the cardinal tetra is one of the most striking fishes in the world. Huge numbers are collected and exported each year from their Amazonian home, but although they are a familiar sight in aquarium shops, little is known of their life in the wild. One of the most important steps in finding out about the biology of any species is to find out what it eats. Researchers examining the diet of cardinal tetras from flooded forests and stream tributaries of the Rio Negro found that the fish were naturally eating a very broad range of foods. The stomach contents of the fish included crustaceans, such as Daphnia species and copepods, the larvae and adults of flies, mosquitoes, beetles, and bugs, as well as ants, shrimps, fish fry, eggs, algae, and fibrous plant matter. The smaller fish -- those measuring 1 inch (2.5 cm) -- also preyed extensively on tiny rotifers. Perhaps most surprisingly, the results also showed up scales and parts of other; larger fish, which suggests that the cardinal tetras are not averse to scavenging on dead fish. * Source http://infolific.com/pets/fish-in-the-wild/fish-diets-in-the-wild/ You can also in the future dip your plants in a 25/1 solutions of bleach prior to planting to ensure no hitchhikers that are unwanted. Edited December 21, 2014 by Percilus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charis Posted December 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Thank you so much for your response. I do have tetras in a seperate tank so adding them would be very easy and I'm sure that they would make a significant dent in the copepod population. However, if they willing to eat something as tiny as a copepod, I've read they will also eat the shrimplets and the goal of the tank is to have a thriving and increasing shrimp population. I could remove the shrimp and let the tetras go to town, but since these little nasties survived either boiling, alcohol or bleaching and came back with a bang, I don't know if the tetras would be able to completely eradicate them. I think the population would just increase again once the tetras were removed and the shrimp replaced. Too be honest, I'm hoping to find some sort of medicated solution. If there is some natural product that will do it, all the better, but I'm wanting to find something that will be effective against them without harming the shrimp, or if necessary, I'll remove the shrimp and treat the tank. I just have no idea what to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 That is a good question, I don't believe copepods are harmful though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percilus Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 There are many medicinal options. Most will harm the shrimp though. A quick google search will bring them up. Yer correct everything seems to enjoy eating shrimplets, it is their purpose in the wild after all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Circle of life. Copepods are found in just about every water source on planet earth. Frogs are considered an indicator species, my opinion is copepods are as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Ok, I've never had this issue but am a fan of working with nature versus chemicals. My suggestion would be to remove the shrimp to another container and let the tank completely dry out. As for the plants, throw them in with your tetras and they'll love you for it. Once the tank's bone dry, you can add some water from the tetras' tank to get it going too. Hope this helps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beverly Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Please don't kill them. Celebrate, instead! Copepods are a great live food source for many fish. I'd love to have copepods in my 75g. My fish pick at the driftwood off and on all day. I just wonder what they're eating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogfish Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 I found that the neatest thing about the shrimp tank is the other critters you find emerging without the presence of predators except for the damselfly larvae that decimated the shrimp population. Bah what the heck it was cool to see it go through it's metamorphosis cycle and catch the adult flying around in the office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rompergoddess Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 what about using spixi snails, they don't harm the shrimp, but love to eat other snails, and such....just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 What size is the tank? How many plants are in it? I had a 25 gallon tank that was about 65% full of moss and/or hornwort which housed thriving populations of shrimp and Endler's guppies. Endler's stay small and with a tonne of plants, they can't pick off many of the baby shrimp, but they'll get the bugs that stay on the glass and annoy you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charis Posted December 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 Thanks, all, for your responses! Unfortunately, these copepods are really unsightly! It's like taking an empty, wet tank and pouring salt down the sides, giving it a little brush and seeing what sticks. The walls of the tank are covered in white grains. It wouldn't be so bad if they tank wasn't built into the wall of the hall so it could be viewed really easily. It needs to be a decent looking tank! I don't mind seeing the adult copepods zip around... but the shear numbers are crazy. Interestingly enough, I have yet to find a "medicated" solution online. When I've done my searches most people suggest the addition of fish (which isn't preferable with my shrimp) and just enjoying them and seeing them as part of a healthy eco system. It makes me giggle a bit to think of them as the sign of a healthy eco system because so far I am of the impression that they could survive a nuclear blast! He he he! I've never heard of spixi snails. Are they basically assassin snails? It's an idea. I've heard of assassin snails eating shrimplets... but if that's not the case, it would be a really easy solution. Of interest, I've read that copepods can carry nematode larva? I don't know if this is true or not. I dealt with a nematode infestation in one of my tanks about a year ago and it was a huge pain... trying to get levamisole from the states, dosing it three times, weeks apart... huge water changes. I don't want to risk anything like that again if these little guys can spread something to my fish in the case of cross contamination of tanks (which I try very hard to avoid). Drying out the tank and tossing the plants might be what has to happen if nothing can be added to the water to get rid of them. If that's the case, I'll guess I'll just wait a bit and see how things progress with both the copepod and shrimp population. It's bit too close to Christmas to be breaking down a tank and setting up something new. Thank you all for your input and more ideas are very welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 If its that bad, I'd say you're definitely feeding too much. Pest populations (copepods, snails, hydra, etc) only grow to the amount of food that is available. Cut WAY back on your feeding, and the problem should subside. Large water changes will help, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charis Posted December 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Actually, the feeding situation is an interesting thing. The copepod situation initially exploded before I even started to cycle the tank. It was planted.... Healthy plants and nothing decaying. No fish, so nothing to feed. The polulation exploded. So, their numbers weren't growing based on anything that I can understand them feeding on. Even now, I feed the shrimp every 2-3 days, and remove anything they haven't eaten after 2-3 hours via an airline siphoning tubing. So, if they could be starved out, I think I'd be set! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted December 26, 2014 Report Share Posted December 26, 2014 Try least killifish heterandia formosa. I have a thriving community in with my neocaridinas (RCS), and they never bother the shrimplets but man do they love BBS and Daphnia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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