ARGH! Is this a problem or a GOOD thing?

[Jennai]

Hey guys-

Ok- Interesting things happening with my tank-

It's a 30 gallon with 4.3 watts per gallon Actinic and sun (Coralife Aqualights - bilinear-)

Parameters are all in check with trates at 10 (still working on that)

Here's what's IN the tank-

2 Scooter Blennies (to help with the copepods- we'll get into THAT in a second)
1 decorator crab (another issue)
1 curlique anemone (I know, I know )
1 Flame Scallop (looks more like electric eye scallop and it was a GIFT from LFS- I didn't buy it)
2 Scarlet Cleaners
1 Camelback
2 small snails
1 HUGE snail (a gift from God wih my algea cleanup! AWESOME SNAIL!)
1 Red Leg Hermie
1 Blue Leg Hermie
Unidentified polyps
Green star polyps
1 brown brittle star with orange striped disk
1 green mushroom which has moved and I can't find it

Ok- The scallop, polyps, and culy Q all have full extension, and are doing VERY well- I target feed them all Phyto, and brine, and butterfly (raw) prawn pieces. All seem to be VERY happy- The fish are all eating except my Royal Gramma- He stopped eating two days ago and this morning was taking a DSB nap

Everyone else is fine- eating, healthy, water is in good shape- the ONLY thing I could think of was maybe he was Cyanide caught? Is there anything else it could be? He wasn't being harrassed by anyone that I KNEW of- Now- this decorator crab- I came out yesterday and the little *&%! was JUMPING up trying to catch my fish!!! I thought these guys were safe to have in a reef?!?! I've got him taking shrimp from my hand and he has stopped chasing my fish- I'm wondering if he was maybe harrassing my royal gramma? Perhaps put stress and he died from that?

The scooter blennies- yeeesh- I got them (with the ability to trade them in in a week or two for something else) because of these copepods. Well, One was fat, one was skinny- now they are BOTH fat- (Is there such a thing as a pot belly fish?!) I come out, turn the lights on, and there are literally THOUSANDS of copepods on my glass!!! The scooters have been in for a couple of WEEKS now! They also eat brine shrimp, but GEEEEZE- Is it time for a Mandarine maybe?!?

Help!!!

On the algea front- I got a giant snail- bout the size of a golf ball- he has a swirly pointy shell and he is AMAZING- Nearly all my algae is gone- However- will this inhibit the growth of coraline? What's a girl to do?! lol

HELP!!

Jennai

[Prismaco]

Hey Jen, here's what they are going to tell you about:

Is it time for a Mandarine maybe?!?

You have to wait for your tank to establish. Show us some pictures...

-Paul

[cyberchef]

Considering you have a 30 gallon tank and 2 scooter blennies I would notrecomend a Mandarine at all. The Mandarine and the scooter blennies will compete for the same food and eventually you won't have enough for any of them. If you really wanta Mandarine wait at least 1 year with no other "pod" predators in your system. How much LR do you have in your tank?

[Geoff]

you could send some of the pods to me!! i can not seem to get pods going in my tank. bizarre

i also would not recommend getting a mandarin. they need a huge amount of pods to be happy. they also like to graze over a lot of rock. i would just stick with the scooters.

G~

[Casey]

Jennai on the decorator crab it is 50/50 on being reefsafe,I got lucky and got one that doesnt mess with anything.

[Jennai]

See, that's the thing- The copepod population just keeps getting bigger and bigger even WITH the scooters in there- They aren't permanent residents- they are on loan to try and control these pods- but they aren't even making a dent in the population! I was under the impression that I wouldn't be able to support even 1 blenny with such a small tank- I've got two adults in there and being in for two weeks now you would think I wouldn't see any pods at all- They've tripled at least!! I guess this is a good thing?! Perhaps I should trade in the blennies for a mandarine and then trade the mandarine after he's cleaned them up? The LFS is really cool about lending stuff- they've been great

Geoff- I'd be more than happy to send you a baggy of sand- These things are out of control in my tank- be careful what you ask for! lol

I'm going to take some pics of the decorator- he's got deep sea yellow gorgonian on him, ALIVE that "blooms" every day (white polyp thingys on it to eat come out all day) he's also got green stars that "bloom" every day as well as sone unidentified polyps also in "bloom" every day- He's also SO funny- he saves a piece of shrimp every time I feed him- sticks it to his back then eats it later!! SO funny- he's eating from my hand now- hops up and down to get it from me- How much should I be feeding him? I give him a dime size piece every day but he always acts like he hasn't eaten in a month when I feed him-

Will I ever get the hang of this?

Jennai

[Jimmer]

If i were you I wouldn't be upset about pods. I can't get em to grow for the life of me....

I may bark up your tree for some of your sand when I change-up my substrate.

[Jennai]

I'd be more than happy to supply some Seed the tanks of the world! lol- I did take an ultra close up photo- but it may be too detailed to determine if these really are copepods- In reality these are SUPER tiny- you can only see a white dot when looking at it- Fortunatly, I have a pretty decent camera and was shooting a photo of the decorater and got these two on the glass- there are thousands of these things on the front glass alone- Let me know what you guys think - I'd say this is probably a 1-10,000 x size of these- here they are (I'm going to start naming them soon!! )

Jennai

[thefatman]

whew... thats gonna be a lot of names. better get a baby name book

[Buzz_Hog]

I'm in the same boat with Jennai.... I just found a breeding colong of pods.... There's about 100 mature pods and 10's of thousands of baby pods running around in a 3-4 inch square area of sand...

I've got pods running all over the glass, all over the rock, all over everything....

As soon as I can get my Lion into the 125, I'm definately gonna be picking up a Manderin... I really don't think he'd be safe in the same tank as the lion...

[Jennai]

Let me know if he gets them into a managable state when you do that

Besides- I'd love to have a mandarine to look at for a month or so until he gets traded in

Keep me posted!!

Jennai

[Buzz_Hog]

Will do.... it won't be for a couple months... my 125 is just starting it's cycle so the tank rearranging won't happen until the cycle is complete...

[mikeMersot]

a 30 is way too small to support a mandarin. Dont worry about all the pods, there population will even out as food and refuge space declines, Ive had pod booms early on in tanks, let nature take its course, no need to add predators for the explict reason of getting rid of pods.

[Buzz_Hog]

Good point mike....

[Jennai]

Hey guys- sorry to seem terse, but if you read my messages you will see I have NO intention of KEEPING a Mandarine- It's VERY frustrating to get lectured on something like this when my messages aren't being read I'm talking of just borrowing one to get some of these pods out- I can barely see through the glass- So PLEASE- stop lecturing about having too small a tank for a mandarine Once again, I'm talking of keeping one for a week or two and then trading it in once the pod population is down. What's the point of a tank if you can't see inside?

(and for what it's worth- I DID keep a mandarine in this very tank for over a year until I took the tank down and SOLD him. He was fat and healthy the whole time I had him, so never say never )