Too many Amphipods and copepods

[MrCote]

My tank has an overpopulation of copepods and amphipods. The whole tank looks like it is alive and moving from the thousands of amphipods and copepods. Just recently my yellow polyps started to die. And I saw amphipods all over them and especially at night. I also heard that once you have too many amphipods they will just start eating everything and I hope they dont start attacking my other corals. I plan on getting a lionfish and a snowflake eel soon. Is there any fish I could get that would get along with the eel and lionfish and keep the amphipod and copepod population under control.

Thanks in Advance

 

[Turbosnail]

You could get a mandarine but the lion fish would most likely eat it.

 

[Yanni]

most wrasse will eat them up.

 

[Andy V]

Is this actually true? I have been in this hobby four years and you definitely learn something new all the time, but I have never heard of this.

 

[Royalty]

you might have to do some research on non Reef fish cause once you add a eel and a lion fish your opitions are limited mandrine fish and scooters are great for copapods and wrasse but I would go with a non reef wrasse over and mandrine just cause they'll get eating.

 

[livewire]

Coris or mystery wrasse would do the trick.

 

[sumpmonkey]

Is this actually true? I have been in this hobby four years and you definitely learn something new all the time, but I have never heard of this.

I have heard of overpopulation's but have never heard of them attacking corals.can you get any pictures of them.what else is in the tank.I would think the nutrient level would be very high to support them in those numbers.do you have a sump.my skimmer seems to keep them in check

 

[MrCote]

I actually dont have many nutrients. My nitrates are zero because I have a refugium and an awesome protein skimmer. And non reef safe fish would not be ideal because I do have a reef tank. But I also just found a small neon green nudibranch that has a few small stub looking things coming off of it, they arent legs. And Im down to only 2 yellow polyps left. I had like 15 to 20. The 2 that are left look horrible to.
Is the nudbranch I found reef safe or no? I have it contained right now so I can decide what to do with it. It has some incredible neon colors on it. But even if it wasnt the pods that was eating the coral and it was the nudibranch I still want to get rid of the pods because when I look at my tank that is all I see.

And wrasse would probably get eaten by the lionfish or eel right? Or would they be ok?

 

[niftyjosh]

If you picked up a wrasse thats decent sized I think you will be ok as long as you don't let the others get too hungry

 

[jamesdong009]

I've never heard of this but it sounds intersting though. Would have you any links to follow up on. FWIW, my tank critters are pretty cyclical and I'll notice increases and decreases in certain populations throughout the year.

 

[FOXYB]

Fwiw nudis usually look like what they eat

 

[jarrodsanborn]

i have had explosions of pods before. they usually balance themselves out to manage reproduction vs food. i would just wait them out. i would look at the nudi beofre the pods when it comes to eating the polyps.

 

[MrCote]

alright. what kind of wrasse could i get for around $20 or $30 and it grows pretty fast, eats pods and the things I dont want, and it will grow to be big enough where the lionfish wouldnt eat it.

Also what should I do with the nudi branch? can I sell it and get money or is it beneficial to my tank. Its really small though but I am posiive it is a nudibranch

 

[highpower9979]

get a lunar wrasse and it will eat the pods very quick

 

[JohnK]

When in doubt assume the nudi is bad. I have never once heard of pods being a problem or needing control in any way.

 

[Andy V]

When in doubt assume the nudi is bad. I have never once heard of pods being a problem or needing control in any way.

John has been in the hobby a long time. If he is saying he has never heard of this being a problem, it reinforces my belief that pods are not your problem.

 

[sumpmonkey]

With out pics I'm still not cinvinced

 

[MrCote]

what should I take pictures of, the yellow polyps have completely vanished except for 1 polyps remaining. I really hope that there isnt some nuisance critter in my tank I cant see thats feeding on my corals. Because the next thing to be eaten would probably be my zoas.

And if the nudibranch is bad and I have only one captured is it possible there are other nudibranches. Are they like flatworms and reproduce by the 100's or is it usually just a case of one nudibranch. Also while looking at my leather today I noticed a big oval clear thing moving real fast. It was a flatworm of some species and it was about 1/4" in length. It did not have the two leg looking things on it like most flatworms. It was a perfect see through oval that had a white dot in the center of it and it was moving real fast on my leather. within seconds of spotting it, it was out of sight and I couldn't find it anywhere. Im not too sure where all of these bugs are coming from because just recently I have been finding lots of new things. A week ago I spotted some sort of a worm that wasnt a bristle worm too.

So pods are not my big problem but something that as of right now is unknown. I still plan on getting a wrasse of some sort because I donlt like seeing all the amphipods. Will wrasse also eat vermetid snails?

 

[UtahGetMe2]

Wow never heard of this... Pics would be good.

 

[Jocko]

Patience. How old is the tank? As a tank matures you should see spikes in the population of various creatures. You just have to be patient and things will settle down.

The weird giant flatworm sounds interesting. Although you didn't mention it earlier. At first you only mentioned the pods. The flatworm could certainly be a culprit. Hopefully it can be identified. But I guess I'm wondering about other causes. Have you ruled out water quality, water flow, light, other husbandry issues? You seem to have been assuming the whole time that it must be a pest killing your yellow polyps?