Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

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JennyPenny
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by JennyPenny »

I think those are copepods. They are harmless and are a sign of a healthy tank!
Keysuri
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Keysuri »

JennyPenny wrote:I think those are copepods. They are harmless and are a sign of a healthy tank!
ohhhh that's great!!!!!!!!! Thank you very much!!!!!!!!
Because I got so worried!!!!!!!! But still I am a little bit disappointed because these are not larvae :))
JennyPenny
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by JennyPenny »

Do you have a magnifying glass? If so, you can Google some pictures of copepods and see if they match what is in your tank. I think they are cute little things!
Just yesterday I saw little white specks swimming in my freshwater tank on my marimo balls. Upon closer inspection I could see what they looked like. I did a Google search to make sure, and I have copepods in my tank, too.
Last edited by JennyPenny on Thu Jan 28, 2016 5:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Mech
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Mech »

where do they come from? i mean introduced to your tank?
JennyPenny
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by JennyPenny »

Mech, I'm not really sure. I think they are crustaceans and a form of phytoplankton. They are found in fresh or saltwater. Mine are, so far, only in my freshwater shrimp tank, which is also planted. I think they may had been introduced on my marimos or plants I bought from the LFS. I only noticed them after finding a hydra and a planaria which I'm sure came from the plants I bought, as I have not fed this particular tank in about 3-4 weeks (aside from a large catappa leaf) due to a nice amount of algae.
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Mustafa »

The copepods probably came in the marimo ball and what appears to be just java moss shaped into a ball. Copepods can have a wide salinity range. Or..depending on where the shrimp came from those copepods may have been introduced from the wild. My tanks with my captive-bred shrimp don't have any copepods (anymore).

By the way..I would remove those java moss balls (the ones that are floating in the pictures), they are slowly rotting and falling apart and adding to the bioload. That can cause excessive algae problems down the line. Not sure about the Marimo ball.
JennyPenny
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by JennyPenny »

Why are there no copepods in your tanks? Did you get rid of them intentionally? I thought they were a good thing.
Varanus
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Varanus »

JennyPenny wrote:Why are there no copepods in your tanks? Did you get rid of them intentionally? I thought they were a good thing.
I believe he's said in the past that they died off over time as they presumably simply couldn't survive the conditions the supershrimp thrive in.
Mech
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Mech »

these turned up in my tank just last week or so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0TdWvXjLUc

copepods?
KenCotigirl
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by KenCotigirl »

Thats what i think they are or at least their larvael stage. They seem to be attracted to the light.
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Re: Opae ulas passive in new tank! HELP!!!

Post by Mustafa »

It's hard to say. There are so many little dot like animals. Most common copepods we see in our tanks tend to run around on the tank walls and only swim short distances.
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