Am I the only Copepod lunatic?

[chrismilano]

Am I the only nut that spends an additional half hour physically removing copepods from waste water when I do water changes?

 

[nacl-h2o]

Are you sure you don't mean anphipods. Copapods are flea size animals, but ampipods get 5 or 6cm long and could be easily move by hand.
Amphipod

 

[newreefers]

I'm thinking yes. usually when I do a water change, I get the water from the top of the tank, really no pods floating on the top few inches of water, they are all in the sand, rock, and all over the back and side glass of my tank. If I lose a few I'm not too worried about it.

 

[chrismilano]

Well, I vacuum the substrate, not remove the top water,so I get dozens of them.
I guess they are amphopods (lil shrimpy things). Whats the difference? Are they both beneficial? MOST important, will mandarins eats amphopods or just copepods?
Thanks guys

 

[phil1964]

NO
My tank never looked so good as when I had a pod infestation.
I love them. Unfortunately all mine went south for the winter.

 

[phil1964]

NO
My tank never looked so good as when I had a pod infestation.
I love them. Unfortunately all mine went south for the winter.

 

[nacl-h2o]

They are both benificail. Copapods are tiny and to the human eye look like white fleas or sperm, they eat film algea or phytoplankton. Amphipods are as pictured above and are 5 or 6cm as adults and are algae eaters and/or detravors depending on the speices. Manderins will eat the young amphipods, adult isopods and adult copapods. They will also eat small flat worms and small worms. HTH