# Cyclops Infestation!!!!



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

At first I thought they are kind of cute:










However, they are gradually multiplying in their millions if not billions in my shrimp only tank, ie lack of predator to control their numbers!!

Now, my quesiton is whether they are harmful? Do they increase bioload? My Tiger shrimps seem to be un-bordered by them. Do shrimps eat them?

What should I do (if I need to do something)? Any advice would be appreciated!


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Feed them to your fish?


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

They are not harmful to anything in your tank but you might want to curtail your feeding habits. I usually get an outbreak of these guys when I overfeed the shrimp tank. Good Luck.


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I might have overfed the shrimps - causing the outbrake of cyclops!


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

I have all kinds of critters in my tank. It really amazes me because I used to do reef tanks and I thought there could be no way that as many bizzare small sand/rock creatures could exist in Fresh water, but they do. My question, I have a lot of these bugs I would refer to as "scuds" swimming around and crawling through the moss in my shrimp tank. I have used an imitation of the scud for flyfishing patterns when fishing in still water ponds. Trout love em. Are they a threat to baby cherries? My bacth of cherries from Tom had some that were almost microscopic in the bag and the scuds, snails, etc. could easily take them out if they had a mind to, or taste for, shrimp. I have been amazed that for the most part, the Amanos have just ignored them. I had 2 cherries carrying eggs when they showed up last week. One molted and the eggs appeared to shed off with the molt. The other one is still carryi ng her eggs. Let me know what you guys think. Any advice is appreciated. Darrell


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## frugalfish (Apr 20, 2005)

Relax, there's no need to worry about cyclops or other little critters that occupy your tanks, they are not a threat to your shrimp. I have found that in my tanks with the least measurable nitrous waste tend to have the best populations of certain small organisms. I use them as another idicator as to the health of the environment my tanks. If you get really worried about the cyclops maybe give Sinbad the Sailor a call, he seemed to take care of them pretty easily.


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## YuccaPatrol (Mar 26, 2006)

I asked a similar question on another shrimp forum and was told by the site administrator that the presence of copepods like these are an excellent indication of high quality water!


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks YuccaPatrol! Great to hear that my water condition is ideal! This may explain why my tigers keep laying eggs batch after batch!!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I get these too. So far they seem harmless to the shrimp. The only tank that doesn't have them also has some Heterandria formosa to eat them.

If you have a brine shrimp net you can scoop some out and feed them to your fish.


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## Tzenlip (Apr 14, 2006)

since they are great live food for frys, so i decided to breed them.. by putting lots of moss into a square plastic container and keep the lights on for them!


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## iris600 (Feb 12, 2004)

I actually culture scuds, and feed them to my fish who LOVE to eat them. Thus far, only my kribs can tackle the full size scuds, but all the other fish enjoy the younger life stages.


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## Tzenlip (Apr 14, 2006)

Scuds? what are they? 
very fast moving microorganisms? if i'm not mistaken.. my cyclops scud very fast , speed around 2 inch persecond?


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