[inthepacific]

i have seem to have a sudden outbreak of these things. do the shrimp eat these? i dont mind them im just not sure if its going to disturb my shrimp or not

 

[ravensgate]

No the shrimp don't eat them. Did you add anything recently to the tank like plants? They could have come in on something or you may be overfeeding.

 

[pinoyghost2]

I started off with a few that came on some plants etc...then it seemed like they were just overtaking everything, breeding like crazy especially if you have lots of plants in your shrimp tanks.

What I found was that they would compete for the food the shrimps were getting too...ie: barley, algae wafers, even the BW grow....would push the shrimps out of the way for the food and even ate the algae/biofilm off the glass and filters.

In the end I noticed my baby shrimps not making it to juvie stages, and I have just emptied 2 tanks (nano 8 gallons) that were contaminated with these seed shrimps/cocopeds.

I took out all the shrimps and put in a pair of my Killifish...they have cleaned the tanks of every aquatic creature including planaria roud:

My tanks are now clean enough to put shrimps back in and see if it makes any difference to the population growth.

 

[Smitty06]

Seed shrimp and copepods are refered to differently typically. Seed shrimp, depending on the type may or may not harm your shrimp. Copepods are usually small and harmless.