Copepod bloom problem

[Zachary Hart]

Hello. I recently got a saltwater fish tank for my birthday and have had it running for five weeks now. Its a fluval evo 13.5 gallon. I have  4 turbo snails and 3 conch which have been in there for 2 weeks already and they are doing great. About five days ago, i noticed a small number of copepods on the glass. The next day they were everywhere and still are. The population keeps getting bigger and bigger day by day. They make the water look very cloudy and its very unattractive. I know that copepods are supposed to be a good thing but they’re just getting on my nerves. I also have two clownfish that have been recently added in on Saturday the 13th october. My question is will the copepods decline in their population on their own or does something have to be done? I can post photos if need be. I just am really frustrated because i just want a nice clear tank so i can view the clownfish dancing around. Thankyou

[Oldsalt01]

Zach..... calm down, buddy. It's way too early in the day to get all crazy about a 'pod infestation. The clown's will take care of them over time. Can you describe them or give us a pic of the little guys? If they're little white spots that kinda move in a jerky motion they're fine. If they look like little white centipedes, they're fine too. Amphipods will look like little shrimp with curved backs. Also OK. I will say that 5 weeks into a tank cycle is a little early for 7 snails and a couple of fish. There can't be a lot of algae for that many snails to be feeding on, especially the conch's. Assuming you used live rock to cycle the tank? Overall, 'pods are a good thing to have, by adding to biodiversity, and they're free fish food which will self-regulate in number as the tank matures. I wouldn't plan on adding anymore fish to the 13.5g. You're about maxed out now as far as bioload is concerned. For now, slow down and let the tank settle a bit. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Have some patience, and it will all work out. Welcome to the obsession.

[OPtasia]

This is a common part of NTS. NTS stands for New Tank Syndrome. It's very common to have a pod population bloom on you when there's something for the pods to eat and no natural predators. Usually, this happens when you have a new saltwater aquarium with some liverock and live sand in it that isn't completely cycled yet. It can also happen any time after your tank is established and fully cycled, too. Also common to NTS are things like green and diatom algae blooms. Most clownfish I know love to snack on copepods and eventually whatever the pods are feeding on is either going to get eaten up or managed with detritus removal during water changes. So, be patient. Your tank has a thriving colony of zooplankton (free fish, anemone & coral food) which are fantastic detritus pickers and tank janitors all on their own. 

 

Don't buy a goby or any specified pod feeders unless you're also prepared to culture those pods for them once they've eaten everything in your tank. 

[Zachary Hart]

Thankyou for all your help. So would you say that the mass of copepods will go down then?  Heres a photo. I will try to get a better one in the morning when the lights come back on again. I cycled the tank with live sand but dry rock and fluval cycle which was recommended to me by my local fish store

[Tamberav]

1 hour ago, Zachary Hart said:

Hello. I recently got a saltwater fish tank for my birthday and have had it running for five weeks now. Its a fluval evo 13.5 gallon. I have  4 turbo snails and 3 conch which have been in there for 2 weeks already and they are doing great. About five days ago, i noticed a small number of copepods on the glass. The next day they were everywhere and still are. The population keeps getting bigger and bigger day by day. They make the water look very cloudy and its very unattractive. I know that copepods are supposed to be a good thing but they’re just getting on my nerves. I also have two clownfish that have been recently added in on Saturday the 13th october. My question is will the copepods decline in their population on their own or does something have to be done? I can post photos if need be. I just am really frustrated because i just want a nice clear tank so i can view the clownfish dancing around. Thankyou

 

Copepod bloom is a normal part of a young tank, all of mine bloomed too. They eventually die off to normal numbers and then you will only see a few during the day and perhaps some on the glass at night. A young tank has all sorts of crazy microscopic shit going on and the pods are just taking advantage. The initial cycle might be done, but the the tank will go through all possible sort of 'young tank' stages its first year. 

[Oldsalt01]

That’s a pretty bare tank from an algae standpoint for such a large cleanup crew. Keep a close eye on the snails to make sure u don’t have some die-off. They can find some pretty crazy places to expire and without things like bristleworms to eat the dead, can fowl a small tank like that pretty quickly. Just sayin from experience 😉

[Zachary Hart]

I feed the snails and conches occasionally and check that they eat it. They seem to be doing fine at the moment. I check them everyday to make sure that they’re all still alive and well

[vegasgundog]

Little white dots that run all over the glass?  Sign of good things. They will balance out in short order. I honestly feel bad scraping them off the glass.

[Zachary Hart]

These are some better photos

[Oldsalt01]

19 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

I feed the snails and conches occasionally and check that they eat it. They seem to be doing fine at the moment. I check them everyday to make sure that they’re all still alive and well

What are you feeding the snails? As herbivores they need algae which you don’t seem to have a lot of, and some can be very selective about the type of algae they consume. Stay on top of your water parameters too. Over feeding is probably the number one issue in creating a problem with nusience algae down the road. 

[holdorf333]

feeding a clean up crew is a good sign that you have way too many members in that crew.  honestly, you need to let a new tank sit and brew, so to speak.  you aren't assembling a bunch of shiny new parts that will always be shiny and new, you are attempting to replicate a living, breathing, moving and not always aesthetically pleasing biome that is laced with interdependancies.  

 

relax, keep your fingers out of the tank, and let nature happen.

[REEFreefLJS85]

A pod bloom like that is a good thing to me. Your fish has live food to eat when they want it. Which mean you don't have to feed them that often.  Plus pods are beneficial in the tank as well. 

[Oldsalt01]

I agree with Holdorf completely. In the next few weeks your tank will enter the "ugly phase". Every dry rock tank goes through this phase and it can be a bit unsettling. If the 'pods are freaking you out now, wait until the ugly's show up! The tank will mature in it's own time. Trying to rush it to a pristine display will only come to tears. We understand it's hard waiting for the tank to balance out and start to mature, but the reality is, that probably won't happen completely for about a year to true maturity. Do lots more reading on starting a tank, watch videos on utube, don't be afraid to ask us questions, because we were all newbies to the obsession at some point. I've had salt tanks, off and on, for almost 50 years and I'm still asking questions, learning from mistakes, and still doing research. Too often, rushing a tank leads to frustration, disappointment, wasted money, lost livestock, and failure. Taking your time now will pay dividends down the road. This hobby ain't like raising Guppy's. It requires commitment, time, and gained knowledge. Oh yah, and money, lol. So, slow down and let the tank do what it's going to do. And rely on us to help. The only stupid question is the question you don't ask. BTW, I wish I could keep a healthy 'pod population like yours, but the fish have other ideas. Seems they expect to eat all the time. 😉

[Zachary Hart]

There is a nice amount of algae lining the rocks now anyway so i wont need to be feeding them as of yet. I only ever fed them once to make sure they had enough food. 

[Zachary Hart]

Thankyou for all of your support. I will leave everything to sort itself out over the coming months. Just the regular weekly water change and a couple flakes of fish food for the clowns. I will keep you updated to see what happens

[Zachary Hart]

this is unrelated to copepods but is this normal for clownfishes fins to look like this. I have a feeling it isnt (sorry for the bad picture quality)

[holdorf333]

is that one smaller than the other?

[Zachary Hart]

Yes it is. I think they have brooklynosis on closer insepection. Tell me what you think

[Tamberav]

Looks like brook 😞 I am so sorry as prognosis is poor, if you want to try and save them they need to be moved to a quarantine tank and treated immediately. Formalin is the medication needed.

 

The display tank needs to be left without fish for 6-8 weeks to starve off the parasite, otherwise any new fish added is likely to contract the parasite that is still surviving in the tank.

[Tamberav]

2 hours ago, Zachary Hart said:

Yes it is. I think they have brooklynosis on closer insepection. Tell me what you think

 

[Zachary Hart]

Well its a bit too late now. The bigger one which had this also (but not on its fins) died just now. Before its death he was very lathargic and gasping at the top for air. I moved him to a quarantine tank but it was too late. I noticed this mucus thing on him the second day i got him but because ive never kept clownfish before I thought it must be the normal thing.😕

[Tamberav]

7 minutes ago, Zachary Hart said:

Well its a bit too late now. The bigger one which had this also (but not on its fins) died just now. Before its death he was very lathargic and gasping at the top for air. I moved him to a quarantine tank but it was too late. I noticed this mucus thing on him the second day i got him but because ive never kept clownfish before I thought it must be the normal thing.😕

 

Sorry 😞 it kills very fast and the treatment isn't a very gentle med either. 

 

Just make sure not to add any to your tank for 6-8 weeks. I would sterilize your QT tank for when you are ready for fish again. Wash it out with vinegar and all the equipment/pumps too and let it dry, throw away any filter media, ect.. anything that can't be fully air dried. Air drying will kill off any parasite that got missed by vinegar. 

 

Once it is sterilized and left to dry out for a few days, you could technically add a new fish to the QT tank to stay in there until the DT is parasite free. Since the QT tank is not cycled you will need to do more frequent water changes to keep ammonia low. Or if you have a spare filter, you could take this time to cycle the QT tank with a sponge media or something similar. 

 

I keep a 10g QT running 24/7 and plan to until I am completely done adding fish to all my tanks. It is especially frustrating to add a new fish and have the parasite on the new one kill all your old fish too.

[Zachary Hart]

I still have one clownfish but thats the one in the picture. I dont have any medicine for him though so i dont know what im gonna do

[Zachary Hart]

Do you think they may have contracted the illness from the fish shop because i noticed it on Sunday and i got them on Saturday. Or do you think the paracite was already in my tank?

[Tamberav]

3 minutes ago, Zachary Hart said:

Do you think they may have contracted the illness from the fish shop because i noticed it on Sunday and i got them on Saturday. Or do you think the paracite was already in my tank?

 

The fish came in with it. Fish can appear healthy and eating but still harbor disease (usually in the gills). The stress of moving them to our tanks form the LFS lowers their immune system and the parasite takes advantage.

 

I had a angelfish in QT tank that didn't show disease until 4 weeks in.