Tiny organisms in my tank!

[jeremyg]

I view it like this. You have copepods all over your glass during daylight hours where they are easy targets for fish. They should be hiding in the rocks and sand and come out at night. Why are they out? Is the cloudy water an algae bloom and they are feeding on the glass film algae? Is there an imbalance in their environment forcing them out as a last ditch survival effort? Its not normal pod behavior in daylight hours. The low salinity of a fowler tank can explain some of your other low numbers but what is causing the cloudy water? Did you dose anything?

I just discovered that my UV sterilizer was not running for who knows how long. The pump seems to be on the fritz - will turn on if I knock it around a bunch - so I ordered a replacement pump. Got it working for now. Do you think that contributed to some bacteria blooming and the cloudiness?

Curious though how do you think copepods got into your tank? Hitchhiker on a fish? Most of us seed the tak with them.

I’m really not sure. I just added 3 new fish (first in probably a year) the night before I noticed them, but I assume they were there longer than that. My powder brown has frequently been feeding on the back walls where the copepods are congregating, but I assumed he was feeding on algae. Does UV kill copepods? See my above comment.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Lol. Because I’m too new to this and had never seen them before and just put 3 fish (after QT) in there and my mind immediately went to deep dark places.

let me go google copepods, because never really heard of them

It happens!

Pods are definitely a good thing. You can also buy live phytoplankton (or culture your own) to help grow their population faster. Pods are an excellent part of your cleanup crew. They can reach the tiny places in your rocks that nothing else can!