celacanthr
Active Member
I know, I promised, and promised, and promised again! So I finally decided to do it!
PODS!
~~So I hope by now most of us have that vagueish idea of what a pod is. A tiny critter that swims around in the tank, and is gobbled up by fish. However a pod is much more than that. Pods, a VERY broad term used by reefers to explain any of a number of crustaceans from many, many different families, and genuses ( is that the plural of genus? Or is it geni?) Including beneficial resource for supplemental feedings, to dangerous parasites.
COPEPODS!
~~The safest AND smallest of the three. Often looked over when you look at your tank. If you have imported anything from the ocean (like LR or caulerpa) then you can almost be guaranteed you have copepods, granted there may be VERY few. Such as in my tank, where almost everything, I either made (DIYLR) or bought from a non-saltwater merchant (sand). In fact the only things that I have that came from the ocean is a peace of rock with zoos on it, that I got about 2 weeks ago. I have either no copepods, or so few, since the piece of rock was just put in there 2 weeks ago.
~~The copepod life cycle is a fairly simple one.
1)The copepod hatches from their egg
2)After the copepod hatches, it is a nauplii, and goes through 6 nauplii stages
3)After the 6 stage, the body greatly elongates, and the body sections become very apparent
4)Now it is a copepodite
5)It will now go through 5 copepodite stages, each one looking more and more like the adult
6)After the 5th stage, it is an adult, which means its sole purpose is to eat and breed. The breeding of the copepod is foggy for me, so I will leave it out. I do think that they carry the eggs. I am not sure whether they are amaphrodites, or anything else like that.
Ok, they are generally 5 mm in length or smaller. Some parisitic forms can grow to 4 inches! The one type worth mentioning that is parisitic is the Caligid Copepod. They will grip the host with pairs of legs, and depending on the type, either tear of skin chunks, burrow into gills, or suck blood from the skin. Sometimes they can be red.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I am including barnacles in this, because they are found in the same class as Copepods, Maxillopoda, which also contains the dreaded fish lice.
~~~~~~Barnacles: they are an odd group of filtering crustaceans. They have modified appendages, that allow them to filter water. They also form hard calcerous "shells" that are interlocking, which allow them to close very tightly, when threatened.
AMPHIPODS!
~~Amphipods, are both detrimental, and safe, depending on your tank. They are MOSTLY safe, or at least the species found in our tanks. But, the bad kinds CAN be found. Although very few are dangerous to fish, but they are mostly dangerous to corals, and other inverts. Although, they can become large, (2 inch plus range, they are still dwarfed by some isopods), most stay fairly small (<1 cm). It should be noted that although they are considered a good sign if found in saltwater tanks, it is sometimes said that they are a BAD sign when found in FW tanks. I am not sure why this is said, maybe because of a chemical, or nutrient imbalance.
~~Now, who has a refugium? Ok, so how many of you that raised your hands have the pipe from your fuge gravity fed to your display? I am assuming not many of you do. So
PODS!
~~So I hope by now most of us have that vagueish idea of what a pod is. A tiny critter that swims around in the tank, and is gobbled up by fish. However a pod is much more than that. Pods, a VERY broad term used by reefers to explain any of a number of crustaceans from many, many different families, and genuses ( is that the plural of genus? Or is it geni?) Including beneficial resource for supplemental feedings, to dangerous parasites.
COPEPODS!
~~The safest AND smallest of the three. Often looked over when you look at your tank. If you have imported anything from the ocean (like LR or caulerpa) then you can almost be guaranteed you have copepods, granted there may be VERY few. Such as in my tank, where almost everything, I either made (DIYLR) or bought from a non-saltwater merchant (sand). In fact the only things that I have that came from the ocean is a peace of rock with zoos on it, that I got about 2 weeks ago. I have either no copepods, or so few, since the piece of rock was just put in there 2 weeks ago.
~~The copepod life cycle is a fairly simple one.
1)The copepod hatches from their egg
2)After the copepod hatches, it is a nauplii, and goes through 6 nauplii stages
3)After the 6 stage, the body greatly elongates, and the body sections become very apparent
4)Now it is a copepodite
5)It will now go through 5 copepodite stages, each one looking more and more like the adult
6)After the 5th stage, it is an adult, which means its sole purpose is to eat and breed. The breeding of the copepod is foggy for me, so I will leave it out. I do think that they carry the eggs. I am not sure whether they are amaphrodites, or anything else like that.
Ok, they are generally 5 mm in length or smaller. Some parisitic forms can grow to 4 inches! The one type worth mentioning that is parisitic is the Caligid Copepod. They will grip the host with pairs of legs, and depending on the type, either tear of skin chunks, burrow into gills, or suck blood from the skin. Sometimes they can be red.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I am including barnacles in this, because they are found in the same class as Copepods, Maxillopoda, which also contains the dreaded fish lice.
~~~~~~Barnacles: they are an odd group of filtering crustaceans. They have modified appendages, that allow them to filter water. They also form hard calcerous "shells" that are interlocking, which allow them to close very tightly, when threatened.
AMPHIPODS!
~~Amphipods, are both detrimental, and safe, depending on your tank. They are MOSTLY safe, or at least the species found in our tanks. But, the bad kinds CAN be found. Although very few are dangerous to fish, but they are mostly dangerous to corals, and other inverts. Although, they can become large, (2 inch plus range, they are still dwarfed by some isopods), most stay fairly small (<1 cm). It should be noted that although they are considered a good sign if found in saltwater tanks, it is sometimes said that they are a BAD sign when found in FW tanks. I am not sure why this is said, maybe because of a chemical, or nutrient imbalance.
~~Now, who has a refugium? Ok, so how many of you that raised your hands have the pipe from your fuge gravity fed to your display? I am assuming not many of you do. So
