Ostracod infestation?!? Help!?!

[Loraaf]

Ok I'm an idiot. Because these things showed up a day or two before my fry hatched I thought they were eggs. Now that I have removed my adult fish that I can only assume were eating them they are multiplying at an alarming rate. If my fry were bigger I'd simply put my adult fish in for awhile but I don't want them to eat the fry. Any ideas?

Oh and I am planing on vacuuming the gravel tomorrow but was trying to make sure all the eggs had hatched. Will these things bother the fry?

 

[Loraaf]

Update: did a 60% water change and vacuumed the gravel as well as I could without taking more water out. I got a good bit of the ostracod but I am still concerned. Everything I've read elsewhere online says they are harmless I would feel much better hearing what you guys think about it.

Thanks!

 

[Gillie]

They won't harm your fry, they do a great job of eating detritus and algae though, which isn't a bad thing. You will see population explosions when algae is bad or overfeeding occurs,but depending on what species the fry are overfeeding is sometimes required to make sure they are well fed. So small frequent water changes will keep things in check and as the fry grow they will probably end up eating the Ostracods.

 

[Loraaf]

Thanks Gillie! I have only seen a couple since I vacuumed the gravel the other day. The fry are zebra danios and since there are probably 150-200 it's hard to feed them accurately. Lol.

 

[Gillie]

Thanks Gillie! I have only seen a couple since I vacuumed the gravel the other day. The fry are zebra danios and since there are probably 150-200 it's hard to feed them accurately. Lol.

Definitely a candidate for light overfeeding.