help!. isopods in tank

fpv930

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The same happened to me several years ago. I waited until the lights were out for about 1-2 hours. Then, I used a flashlight to look inside the display tank. I would see them darting around. I would net them and remove from the tank. Also, I would occasionally find them in my filter sock inside the sump. After about 2 weeks I was able to rid them of the system.
Good luck!
 

Lionfish Lair

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Isopods are good things. They are GREAT things. Don't even give a second thought to them, except for the fact they will be food for your future coral.... should you choose to go that direction. Their populations naturally wax and wane and I really can't imagine a tank without them.
 

Soueify

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Isopods are the devil!! I too had the same situation and wound up with one heck of a population in my display and refugium!

I used traps over several weeks and I would catch them by the tens each time, but still the population was going strong ( I have a high bioload and I do lots of feeding)

In the end I had to tear down the refugium completely :( and kill most of my LR when moving to a new tank :( lost a great DSB there :(

Anyway there is a good ending to the tragedy!

I got a green spotted puffer (acclimated to saltwater) and it totally decimated the few remaining isopods that managed to get into my new display after the move! I do find one every few weeks but the period between each finding is getting longer and I can safely say the worst is over!

Also to my luck, I caught an Ornate wrasse locally (Alexandria, Egypt, the Mediterranean) and it munched on them as well!

_1TK0022.jpg
Tetraodon_nigroviridis_4.jpg


I had a population of amphipods in the old refugium, and IMO they are much more fragile that isopods and can even be predated upon by them if food becomes scarce! I have not had an incident when Isopods attacked my fish (not that I am sure of at least) but I didn't want to take my chances! They were definitely Cirolanids (the nasty kind)

_1TK0022.jpg


Tetraodon_nigroviridis_4.jpg
 

fpv930

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Isopods are good things. They are GREAT things. Don't even give a second thought to them, except for the fact they will be food for your future coral.... should you choose to go that direction. Their populations naturally wax and wane and I really can't imagine a tank without them.

I really have no idea what you would be speaking of. Isopods are not a good thing. Here is a link to a great article from Reef Keeping Magazine regarding the pest hitchhiker.

Cirolanid Isopod Capture Techniques, Feeding Habits and Mortality Testing by Brian Plankis - Reefkeeping.com

Here is a link to a video I made when I found the isopod in my filter sock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijGn5GyF-Y&list=UUISxnpNkaEDaOlZkxURAKPQ
 

fungia_fiend

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Guys, there are several different types of isopods. Some are as harmless as amphipods, others are really nasty fish parasites.

What kind of isopods do you have?
 

Lionfish Lair

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The odds of you having a bad isopod are about the same as you finding a "true fireworm" amongst a bunch of common bristleworms. You will drive yourself insane if you try to eliminate all Isopods. Learn what types your tank needs and watch out for those very very very rare ones. The parasites, over the longterm if observed, will be found on your fish and not numerous. The 1000s you see on your glass, rock, what is feeding coral and feeding fish are GOOD Isopods. Pods are a part of the little ecosystems we are trying to create. When did this "Isopods are bad" trend start?
 
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Soueify

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From what I understand there are 2 types of isopods:

Cirolanids (the bad kind) which are predatory to fish, they are characterized by having large eyes (for chasing fish) and they can be positively identified by the fact that they do not roll into a ball when you handle them

The other kinds (Good dietrivores) are mainly identified when they roll into a perfect ball in your hands.

There are other signs for differentiating both types ( I only remember those)

Pest isipods can be destructive in a closed environment such as our aquariums (trust me!)
 

Lionfish Lair

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There are a lot of different isopods besides two. There has to be some confusion here. The two types that are similar in appearance, but not function, are the Cirolanids and the Sphaeromatid. When you learn what they look like, even they are easy to tell apart. The eyes are the give away for me, upon visual inspection. The cirolanids even look evil. In 20 years, I've never had a hitchhiker cirolanids or sphaeromatid, that's how uncommon they are. Now, I've had some shipped to me to watch them and photograph them, as I've kept tanks just for hitchhiker's alone.


These are some of the sphaeromatid I have had....

sphaeromatidslant.jpg



This is a male

sphaeromatidmale.jpg


Female

sphaeromatidfemale.jpg


This is how they got the nickname Roly Poly. Only they can do this, the "evil" ones cannot.

sphaeromatidrolypoly.jpg


Next to my hand for size reference

ew_big.jpg
 

Lionfish Lair

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These are the common munnid isopod. You need these in your tank for it to "be all it can be". Corals eat these. Fish eat these. They clean up your tank.

This is a male

malepost.jpg


This is a female

femalepost.jpg


Male and female.... ummmm..... "talking".

matingisopod.jpg


This is two males fighting over a woman

fightingmales-1-1.jpg


Don't hate a whole group of critters, when there is only the rare odd one that is harmful..... seems that's true of a lot of things in the world that is going on right now.
 

Paulwhip

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im told if you want get rid of em you can put some food and cheto into a wiffle ball ad leave it on the bottom of the tank over night throw it in the mornin itll be full of them continue till they r gone, so im told.- Im thinkin they are a good food source for wrasse and mandrin fish. ill keep mine thx
 

Liquid360

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Sorry to Zombie a thread, but I never knew there were bad isopods. I've been buying and adding them to my tank for years.
42503e94fdc5c37ac1036325981ffa3b.jpg
 

KingLucy1997

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Guys, there are several different types of isopods. Some are as harmless as amphipods, others are really nasty fish parasites.

What kind of isopods do you have?
Two aqauriums in two weeks infected with the nasty. So green puffers and
Sorry to Zombie a thread, but I never knew there were bad isopods. I've been buying and adding them to my tank for years.
42503e94fdc5c37ac1036325981ffa3b.jpg
I would assume they wouldn't be selling the hyperpredatory ones
 

KingLucy1997

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The odds of you having a bad isopod are about the same as you finding a "true fireworm" amongst a bunch of common bristleworms. You will drive yourself insane if you try to eliminate all Isopods. Learn what types your tank needs and watch out for those very very very rare ones. The parasites, over the longterm if observed, will be found on your fish and not numerous. The 1000s you see on your glass, rock, what is feeding coral and feeding fish are GOOD Isopods. Pods are a part of the little ecosystems we are trying to create. When did this "Isopods are bad" trend start?
Probably when the predartory ones started to increase in prevalence and kill everything in your tank in a absolutely horrifying way. All I have left right now after the isopods killed everything else is a solitary Mexican Red Legged Hermit crab who I've helped survive by using a pipette to send a jet of water and the smaller parasite ones attacking it. But the dude's held his own, he even got up on a shell to have the strategic advantage of the high ground when a lot were closing in on him. He also has killed the smaller blood sucking ones, or maybe the were the larvae. Some of the blood suckers looked like more thin and more strikingly red that brine shrimp.
Do isopods look like small snakes/eels because they just get so long? The variety of morphology in these creatures are fascinating from what I am observing in my current tank that also my first tank that got infected with marine isopods just a week ago. I'm done buying online. I hope this probablm isn't in brick and mortar stores and I'll be able to examine them.
 

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