Copepod Bloom

[Dtorre125]

So I've had thousands of tiny Copepods or amphipods(not really sure which one) swimming around my tank for the past week. I've read this is a natural part of a new system but it is making my water cloudy. Is there anything I can do to speed up the process or will the system need time to balance itself out?

 

[PB_Smith]

How new is your system?

copepods are desirable, you don't want them to go away.

My tank has a "bloom" of copepods about every 3-4 weeks to where they are very visible in the water column, that is very normal and nothing to be concerned with, and the fish love the tasty morsels.

 

[Dtorre125]

My system has been running for 36 days. I understand Copepods are a good thing but I'm not a big fan of how cloudy they are making my water. Over the last couple days it has cleared up some. Is time the only factor that will help balance them?

 

[PB_Smith]

My system has been running for 36 days. I understand Copepods are a good thing but I'm not a big fan of how cloudy they are making my water. Over the last couple days it has cleared up some. Is time the only factor that will help balance them?

36 days?
It has barely finished cycling if it even has finished yet.
I have some doubt that you have copepods in your tank.
Can you literally see little critters jerking around on the glass?
Most copepods live on surfaces and are not free swimming, at least not in concentrations enough to cause cloudy water.

My thought is that you are experiencing the very normal and desired bacterial bloom that occurs when the bacteria in the tank have hit a solid, thriving population. It will cover everything with a cloudy whiteish film, even the glass, thereby making the water look cloudier than it actually is. This usually clears itself up in a couple of weeks.

If there are a good number of pods in your tank, I doubt they are making the water cloudy. I only notice what looks like snow flurries in the water and tons of them crawling on the glass/substrate/rocks.
I think it may be coincidence of a bacterial bloom making the water cloudy and you noticing the pods increase in numbers, but I don't think the two are directly related.

 

[Dtorre125]

The critters are on glass and rock also. I noticed a couple bigger pods come out of live rock very early in my tanks setup (don't know if they were living but my live rock definitely had pods in it.) I experienced a diatom bloom roughly 2 weeks into setup followed by a green algae bloom which still lingers today. I'm sure my bacteria is still balancing itself out. Would a bacterial bloom consist of moving critters?

 

[Dtorre125]

After reading your thought a second time through, I think you're spot on. It could very well be a combination of pods and bacterial bloom.

 

[Dtorre125]

Is this what a bacterial
Bloom would look like?

 

[PB_Smith]

yeah, pretty much.
A hazy cloudiness to the water and everything will be covered in a light film.

a copepod bloom looks like a bunch of tiny white particles floating/jerking around and if substantial enough, you will notice them moving as a cloud towards the light in the morning.
freaked me out the first time I noticed them in a little cloud. It looked like a powerhead was sucking air and causing micro-bubbles, then I noticed the cloud moved with purpose and intent towards the light because in the morning the light comes in through the side of the tank and bubbles rarely move sideways and down.

 

[Dtorre125]

When the lights off way more are settled on the glass but thins out greatly while the lights on.
I really think I might be getting combination of both. Idk if that's possible but as I research more it seems to be what's going on. Over the past 3 days it has definitely cleared up some.

 

[mr_X]

Run some carbon. It will clear up, unless it's green water.

 

[Ingy]

I'm so jealous.

Once you put fish in, the population of pods will decrease dramatically.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Dtorre125]

So I found a sea slug in my live rock tonight. Any chance these aren't pods in my tank but slug larvae?

 

[Dtorre125]

Not greatest picture, it's shell looks purple in picture but is actually has brown color on it. I believe it's a stomatella snail