non-photosynt Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 Did anybody has a problem with small isopods infestation in fishless tanks? I had this problem in 6g nano, some corals and a sponge were damaged, only addition of wrasse ended this. Now I can see the same creatures in 5g refugium, connected to 20L tank. And I'm planning to keep a couple of sexy shrimps there, in in-tank pico. Just worrying about the micro-shrimp safety. Old pictures: Link to comment
SaVeThEeELs Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 still no suggestions???? did you try a FW dip?? i dont know what to tell you really.....my hawk takes care of my problem pods... Link to comment
JackJack7 Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Did anybody has a problem with small isopods infestation in fishless tanks? I had this problem in 6g nano, some corals and a sponge were damaged, only addition of wrasse ended this. Now I can see the same creatures in 5g refugium, connected to 20L tank. And I'm planning to keep a couple of sexy shrimps there, in in-tank pico. Just worrying about the micro-shrimp safety. Old pictures: Same question Need some advice on this too... Link to comment
Sushi Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 i understand that it's a pico, assuming your system can handle the bio-load, have you considered adding a small goby? http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1850 sorry i know it's a "fishless" pico, but i think the best way to trim down on the isopod population is to add a small fish. Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 3, 2006 Author Share Posted November 3, 2006 Good idea - I didn't know that there could be gobies 1" size, already seen them in LFS. But: this 5g refugium contains a lot of chaeto, 2/3 of volume, couldn't fish be trapped and die inside? I originally planned safe housing for micro sexy shrimp, without any other larger creatures, bothering them. Link to comment
SaVeThEeELs Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Good idea - I didn't know that there could be gobies 1" size, already seen them in LFS.But: this 5g refugium contains a lot of chaeto, 2/3 of volume, couldn't fish be trapped and die inside? I originally planned safe housing for micro sexy shrimp, without any other larger creatures, bothering them. good point.....make escape routes?? its a tiny fish were talkin bout..... could remove some chaeto, but then your sacrificing filtration..... as long as he gots ample swimming room, he should be fine..... what kind of goby??....a neon would probably be ok.... mine was a survivor he should only need 2 gals of free space to be happy Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 4, 2006 Author Share Posted November 4, 2006 Thank you! I tried today to use a plastic basket to hold chaeto in upper levels of the tank - most of the plastics that are available in average home are floating, it worked. Will see. I have an emergency in another tank with dragonets' food and water quality - have to postpone anything else now. Link to comment
supernip Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I got this problem too, but I dunno I kinda appreciate it. I have anemones in my tank and sometimes when food floats off... PO4 and the nitrate cycle can kick in. The copious amount of pods have always been a big help in finishing off whatever was left over. If you're looking specifically at dragonets, Im going to suggest scooter blennies. Of the 3 variety of dragonets commonly available, they take to to frozen food the easiest and are usually available in the smallest sizes. Personally, I'd pick an attractive little damsel or a wrasse. Something with a small beak like mouth made for pecking. Link to comment
JackJack7 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 is there any small invert that would eat pods? My cleaner shrimp is not fast enough to catch'em. Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 I got this problem too, but I dunno I kinda appreciate it. The copious amount of pods have always been a big help in finishing off whatever was left over. Not any pods, isopods only caused problems. These, on the photos above, paid no attention to the food pieces, but lived in the burrows, made in the sponge, and came to crawl onto some corals from the the LR near them. Then chili coral was closed for a very long time, and has a holes in it. I places cleaner wrasse in this tank (6g), and in 3 days problem was solved. Amphipods, gammarus-like, are very helpful - they catch even quite big pieces of food and run away with them - like rugby player with the ball. Fun to watch. Half-inch mysids seems just run endlessly, never seen them with anything visible in the "hands". I have dragonets already, and adore scooter blennies personality, just had a problem with two males in the same tank (mistaken in LFS for a couples), both mandarin and scooters. Had to move the weaker ones into 20g long, and the food floating around in the flow causes bad water quality. Measurable parameters are still OK (have to lower nitrates, now 15 ppm), but LPS are looking much worse. Curious enough, softies and a few SPS are OK, LPS and anemone only are affected. Have to reduce feeding and flow, improve filtration (switched from filter floss in HOS power filter to 50 micron sock, no changes in floating particles since yesterday). Can't imagine, what kind of filtration else could be tried. Diatom filter is expensive and the only really efficient - Quick Filter attachment to the PH - should be changed at least twice a week, expensive in a long run too. Don't know about small invertebrates, eating pods, sorry. Not much a choice in our stores. Sexy shrimp looks too small for this. Link to comment
MentalDragon Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 So is it bad to have a lot of these? I have a 10g nano that have a ton of these running around. I don't see them affecting the corals, but I want to know if I let this go, will it crash my tank? Link to comment
rottface4 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I had the same problem with my tank in my office. The isopods were eating my zoanthids. I got a skunk clown that ate would eat the isopods and my zoanthids stopped disappearing. Link to comment
MentalDragon Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I guess I'm going to have to buy a goby! Now to figure out which one! Link to comment
mvite Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 i don't keep fish Can I have your onyx then? Link to comment
adinsxq Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 sure. come and pick them up Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share Posted November 7, 2006 So is it bad to have a lot of these? I have a 10g nano that have a ton of these running around. I don't see them affecting the corals, but I want to know if I let this go, will it crash my tank? Can't say, searched web thoroughly, but found nothing about them. Was a problem for me. I guess, as with everything - watch how the tank is doing, if something wrong - correct the problem. I guess I'm going to have to buy a goby! Now to figure out which one! This link was given to me in another thread: 1" gobies. Red Striped Goby Neon Eviota Goby Trimma Goby Clown Goby, Panda. Neon Blue Goby - Up to 2". i don't keep fish I envy you. I'm waiting for an end of the lifespan of my fish, then - never again, may be for isopods control only. Link to comment
SaVeThEeELs Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 I envy you. I'm waiting for an end of the lifespan of my fish, then - never again, may be for isopods control only. ill still keep the goby here and there..... Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 8, 2006 Author Share Posted November 8, 2006 What gobies are eating, any other special requirements? Link to comment
SaVeThEeELs Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 What gobies are eating, any other special requirements? neons and green stripes are pretty much bullet proof......you can find em tank bred, most of the time you have to worry about them being eaten... gobys are some of the easiest SW fish to keep..... with the exception of the mandarin...which we all know is not a goby Link to comment
Samoyed Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 uhh are you sure those are paracitic isopods? Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted November 10, 2006 Author Share Posted November 10, 2006 I checked the Web as full as the time allowed, but found only a couple of posts, mentioning this problem. Usually small isopods are not parasitic, but there are a lot of different kinds, you never know. These covered some of my corals, then were holes/burrows, corals started to decline. Fish solved the problem. Link to comment
directional Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 I checked the Web as full as the time allowed, but found only a couple of posts, mentioning this problem. Usually small isopods are not parasitic, but there are a lot of different kinds, you never know.These covered some of my corals, then were holes/burrows, corals started to decline. Fish solved the problem. I just noticed im having the same problem in my 2.5 fishless.. I guess I will get a small goby instead of a shrimp. Link to comment
MentalDragon Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 These are what are taking over my tank.... I went to my LFSs around here and they said to add more crabs to take care of this issue. I have 3 Hermit crabs already and I don't want to add any more. Anytime I mention the size of my tank (10g) they say there isn't a small fish small enough for my tank. Are there any tiny wrasses that could help? I think I'm going to have to resort to buying a fish online for this. Link to comment
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