Copepods

[AM16134]

Hi. Frustrated and think I know the answer but customer service is not answering me. Ordered copepods last week and paid for expedited shipping. They never shipped them till Monday and I received them Wednesday. They arrived in a bubble envelope with one little ice pack that was melted and hot. The bottle was also hot not warm hot. I followed the instructions to open lid and let sit 1-2 hours . There is no foul smell or anything but water has a tint to it. After that time I only seen a few swimmers. A lot of floating particles but nothing that looked like it was swimming. I immediately messaged the company a few times and no response today or last night from them. I put the bottle in the fridge because I wasn’t sure if I should even add this to my tank(again no response from the emails I sent asking this ) New to all this copepod stuff also. I have them out now again at room temp for 1-2 hours to see if there is anything moving and doesn’t appear to be yet but only 30 minutes have passed so far. Any advice as to if you think these are dead also and shouldn’t add them to my tank after they hit room temp. Thank in Advance

 

[Elira_6301]

Hi. Frustrated and think I know the answer but customer service is not answering me. Ordered copepods last week and paid for expedited shipping. They never shipped them till Monday and I received them Wednesday. They arrived in a bubble envelope with one little ice pack that was melted and hot. The bottle was also hot not warm hot. I followed the instructions to open lid and let sit 1-2 hours . There is no foul smell or anything but water has a tint to it. After that time I only seen a few swimmers. A lot of floating particles but nothing that looked like it was swimming. I immediately messaged the company a few times and no response today or last night from them. I put the bottle in the fridge because I wasn’t sure if I should even add this to my tank(again no response from the emails I sent asking this ) New to all this copepod stuff also. I have them out now again at room temp for 1-2 hours to see if there is anything moving and doesn’t appear to be yet but only 30 minutes have passed so far. Any advice as to if you think these are dead also and shouldn’t add them to my tank after they hit room temp. Thank in Advance

Thats disheartening. There no reason to add it if you arent seeing any movement. Ive never received discolored copepod water before. I wont ask where you got it, but Id never use that company again.

 

[bradreef]

Most copepods can handle big swings in temperature. What type did you order? Have you looked at it with a light from the bottom and maybe a magnifying glass. My guess is there is still life in there.

 

[dansyr]

Second photo looks like there are many in there. They don't need to move much, if they are Tisbe they prefer to stay and crawl along surfaces (like bottle bottom and walls). If you have a small magnifying glass that will help. They are probably about half a millimeter in size if they're what I think I'm seeing.

The tint in the water is likely a bit of phytoplankton, a responsible seller would send the copepods with some amount of phytoplankton in the water as food for the copepods until they get in your tank.

For context this is an old, blurry photo I took but has a ruler in the photo - the lines are millimeters. The "large" white thing is a newly hatched dwarf conch, the little beige blur above it (~0.5mm) is a copepod. They are TINY (at least, some are).

 

[AM16134]

Most copepods can handle big swings in temperature. What type did you order? Have you looked at it with a light from the bottom and maybe a magnifying glass. My guess is there is still life in there.

Here is a video. Your opinion?

 

[bradreef]

Plenty of pods in there imo. Plus many that you won't be able to see likely.

 

[Fish Fan]

This is a tough spot given that you say your 'pod's water was "hot" and not warm, but as other's have said 'pods are hardy. They are sometimes shipped in variety of life stages, and you may not be able to see the tiniest 'pods with just your eye. I'd be tempted to add them, I'd be willing to bet many more survived than did not. Of course, if you do get a foul smell or really nasty looking water, then that's likely a pass.

I hope this helps!

 

[AM16134]

Most copepods can handle big swings in temperature. What type did you order? Have you looked at it with a light from the bottom and maybe a magnifying glass. My guess is there is still life in there.

Here is a video. Your opinion?

Not sure about the type does this help.

 

[SaltyCrew4u]

Not sure about the type does this help.

You have plenty of pods in that shipment. The stuff floating is phytoplankton like mentioned above. You won't see most of the pods. It'll take anywhere from 2-3 weeks before you see a larger population. Add phyto to your tank to help the reproduction/quantity. If tank is new add phyto daily if not every other day to continue to feed them.