# Amphipods infestation



## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

My tank has an infestation of these large bugs. All they do is crawl inside the zoa colony. (so far they havn't start munching on the zoa, but i've heard they will if I don't control their population soon)

I have caught 2 of them about 1 cm long with a tweezer when they were out on the sand bed eating smaller pods. One of them was so monstrous that when I had a clip on his head locked his limps still yanked and yanked. He managed to fend off the cleaner shrimp for a while before the CS teared him apart.

It's a small tank 6.6 gallon. I can't add anymore fish
I can't do fresh water dip because they just fly off when I try to take the zoas out of the water.
I can't trap them because my cleaner shrimps will get to the lure way before the bugs get to them. the cleaner shrimp is too slow to catch the amphipods btw...

What other options do i have aside from hunting them down with a tweezer which is purely by luck?

(I also have a nassarius problem. One nassarius actually managed to breed like 30 of them into my tank. but they are not as big a threat i suppose)


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

You have a pretty envious problem!! My Nass haven't bred, and the last time I saw a pod it was being eaten by my wrasse!

Do you feed the tank right now? One way to make your shrimp more effective at eating them is to not feed your tank. Also, you can try another species of shrimp. In my experience peppermint shrimps seem far more predatory then cleaners are. I've seen peppermints rip out featherdusters and chase after and eat pods too. 
Oh yeah, do you have a lot of detritus or extra food floating around? Cut down on the detritus/food and you cut down on the smaller pods they feed on and so you cut down their numbers too.

But I'd just leave them


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

You could add a small pipefish, and then work on training him to eat cyclopeeze for when he decimates the amphipods.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

+1 on the pipefish. Or what about a mandarin?


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I think there is more chance of longterm survivability of a pipefish in a 6 gallon tank.


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

i am planning an upgrade towards a 20-30 gallon tank already

MTS  gotten do more research first tho


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

oops = didn't see it was a 6g. maybe a blue line pipe, then.


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

OFFTOPIC:
the good thing with having a 6 gallon reef is that whatever equipment or food i buy. It's an overkill. I have pretty much everything ready to start a new and bigger tank, i guess it could be a bad thing too because all the extra stuff I have laying around is a lure that screams UPGRADE UPGRADE (my parents are afraid I will cram another tank in my bedroom!!) On hindsight buying a $50 reflecto meter for a fluval edge saltwater setup wasn't a great idea when I already have a hydrometer, also got like 4 types of fishfood, phyloplankton, not to mention the $400 light fixture... Now I even have an abundance of pods and nassarius snails~ 


any suggestions for bigger tanks, good bang for the buck? must be pleasing to the eyes and a bit of a challenge. I've been looking into snowflake eels (50 gallon tank)
Of course it'll be a project, gotta build the stand, drill a tank, build a sump, buy/build new lights... little by little. what should I do?? i need it to cut cost as much as possible.


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

are pipefish smart enough to stay away from the few maxi mini nem i have in my tank?


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## J-P (Feb 27, 2011)

strange question, but wouldn't they be self regulating with the amount of food in the environment?


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

they should in theory 
but having a small tank with enough live stock it's hard to not over feed. plus now that some gotten big the large one seems to be able to hunt smaller ones.
I hear that when they exhaust their food source they can and will go after the zoan colony.


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## J-P (Feb 27, 2011)

you might want to contact Dr. Shimek on Marine depot. He is an authority on the subject.


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

i think my situation is going to improve. I finally got a refracto meter last night  I think the best part of the kit is that tiny piplet they have in the kit.
I used to feed with the smallest eye dropper i got from shoppers, it was still too big to feed the goby and coral with. food would scatter and sink to the bottom where the pods would feast. Now with this really tiny one I can be more percise and hopefully not have to over feed as much! We'll see!

I just gotta get the ones that are already in my tank under control!


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## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

i just saw a monster one. it picked up a spectrium one small pellet and ran...


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