Where do copepods come from?

[zoon]

So, I started a 20l nano tank last month. Brand new bogwood, new substrate, tissue culture plants. Filter media is brand new and not seeded from another tank. So where have the copepods come from that are swimming about in my tank? I only noticed them today, but there are many. And what do they mean? Are they are good or bad sign? Currently no livestock in the tank, but was going to add some cherry shrimp in the next few weeks.

 

[Kezzab]

Dunno. But they are a good sign!

 

[Oldguy]

So where have the copepods come

Perhaps: the answer is blowing in the wind (Bob Dylan). Seriously could be wind born or eggs on any of the items introduced into your tank. It only takes wet hands and you can come back with more than you thought.

 

[rebel]

Maybe eggs in the tap water?

 

[zoon]

That is really quite a gross thought about them being is the tap water - they can survive the chlorine?

 

[zozo]

They are planktonic and live in any natural waterbody, planktonic actualy refers to floating in water (surface area) all tho cyclops mainly live benthic (bottom dwellers) they occasionaly also float around all over the place also at the surface. Other flying insects that land on the water to drink or feed or breed whatever come into contact with the other planktonic organisme living in the water. Than these insects fly away again with tiny water droplets in their hairs containing all kinds of organsims and among them Cyclops etc. Than when it flies into your home, lands on your aqaurium water it releases the hitchhicker into your tank. A wonderfull cycle of life..


Less likely to happen in your aqaurium but in nature also bading, wading and swimming birds cary them all over the place, birds even spread fish eggs arround. Micro organism likely is also spread by swimming or drinking mamals getting their feet wet and go to another body of water.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Perhaps: the answer is blowing in the wind

But they are a good sign!

Probably that one, they are tough little blighters. Copepods, Ostracods and Daphnia can form <"resting cysts"> that are resistant to drying and that allow them to colonise new water sources via wind blown distribution.

They are very popular with fish as a food item, so they don't tend to persist in tanks with fish.

There is a bit of information for the genus Cyclops, because they are the intermediate host for Guinea Worm in Africa etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

resistant to drying and that allow them to colonise new water sources via wind blown distribution.

Awsome! So actualy can travel the globe in the clouds and coming down with rain as well!?. Since rain oftenly collects dust particals on its way down and dust ends up in the clouds on its way up.

Wasn't it the water bear? Even surviving in space vacuum...

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Awsome! So actualy can travel the globe in the clouds and coming down with rain as well!?

I'm not sure how tough they are, but I assume that it is possible. I think most passive biological dispersal is pretty short range, usually it falls off as the square of the distance between donor and recipient sites. I couldn't find anything specifically for Copepods, but there was this reference for Daphnia (Cladocera) <"Wind dispersal results in a gradient of dispersal limitation...........">

Wasn't it the water bear? Even surviving in space vacuum..

Yes, <"Water Bears or "Tardigrades">.

cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

I'm not sure how tough they are

According to the article you posted above the resting cysts are pretty tough..

Many temperate copepods produce resting eggs as a common life-cycle strategy to survive adverse environmental conditions, which is analogous to Artemia and Brachionus sp. Experiments have shown that resting eggs can tolerate drying at 25°C or freezing down to -25°C and that they are able to resist low temperatures (3-5°C) for as long as 9 to 15 months. These characteristics make the eggs very attractive as inoculum for copepod cultures.

 

[Edvet]

Well if a mama copepod and a daddy copepod like each other very much..............................................oh wait that's not what you meant............

 

[Tim Harrison]

Hang on...what do you mean...didn't God create them?

Seriously tho', they are sometimes found in the water supply especially systems that aren't filtered. You don't happen to live in New York City, Boston, or San Fransisco do you?
I once worked as a lifeguard during my undergrad days and arrived to supervise the early morning swim to find several Gamerous pulex floating dead on the surface of the pool. They could only have come from the water supply

I told the customers it was all good since G. pulex is a bioindicator of clean fresh water, and the fact that they were dead meant the pool was properly chlorinated

 

[zozo]

Hang on...what do you mean...didn't God create them?

I guess not, he didn't have a microscope yet.. It was not invented till 1674 by Dutchman Anton van Leeuwenhoek..

 

[zozo]

Actualy the real credit goes to Johannes Kepler a bit earlier.. it's a funny story.. At first people discovered and used convex glass to make fire..
But after making fire with it for a few centuries Johan was the first to look through and notice the magnification.. And the spectacles where born.. Anton only refind it with placing 2 lenses in a tube. Rather remarkable that it took so long before someone came to the idea "lets give it a look - through"..

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I once worked as a lifeguard during my undergrad days and arrived to supervise the early morning swim to find several Gamerous pulex floating dead on the surface of the pool. They could only have come from the water supply

I told the customers it was all good since G. pulex is a bioindicator of clean fresh water, and the fact that they were dead meant the pool was properly chlorinated

About twenty-five years ago we had a bit of an <"Asellus issue in our tap water">.

cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

What's wrong with a bit extra protiene in the water?... Maybe that the cause why kids steadily growing taller over time.