Copepods

[pochitafish]

Recently did an emergency double water change due to sky high nitrates(80+ppm) and prior to the first one I had zero pods on my glass or in my tank(visible) I added some about a month and a half ago but they just went awol and disappeared and I thought they died due to lack of phyto and not feeding them at all, but after the first water change when I had my water level at about half in my display tank I noticed that they started to come out and to my surprise since then they’ve kinda taken over my glass :p

 

[Fish Fan]

The population self regulates depending on how much food they have, but they won't die out completely, except in dire circumstances. Most live in the rocks and sand, but you'll see them on the glass too. You'll see more of them when there's a little film/algae on the glass, right before you need to scrape the glass