Yikes! hundreds of water fleas! help!

[porcelaindoll]

can someone tell me if I should be concerned that my marine tank is full of hundreds and hundreds of water fleas (daphnia)? They are just crawling like crazy and covering my live rock in a 20 gallon with a seahorse. Are they harmless? Should I get rid of them? If so, with what? It has to be something safe for a seahorse.

thank you!

[reefD]

if the tank is new its a normal bloom that will die out with the cycle. if its an established tank get a manderine he will gobble them up and prevent a possible infestation. in a older tank the fleas are feeding on excess food and that is common with seahorse tanks as we feed alot. the problem is if they keep growing they become an epidemic and can cause shuttering by fish. in anycase there are many fish that would be good with a seahorse that will eat them. if the tank is fairly new. 1-3 months dont worry. if they are still all over the place in mid afternoon then i would prepare for the epidemic. if ytour just noticing them at night or dusk/dawn no worries.

[porcelaindoll]

this is a well established tank and I see these little guys crawling around all the time. Can you give me some more ideas of fish that will eat them that are safe with seahorses. I'd really appreciate it.

[reefD]

no problem sounds like you may be having an outbreak. most manderins luv this type of envirnment. any breed will do scooter bleenies too. let be be sure we are on the same page . are they pods? in any case another ideal consumer would be a sixline wrasse. im wondering does you horse eat em. if you dont see it does he appear well fed all the time? most seahorses will search out pods. if not you may have something im not familiar with. im responding with the idea they are some kind of pods. hope this helps

[pledosophy]

If they are just amphipods I would change the title of the thread to

"Yeah, My tank is full of Pods"

;)

As far as there removal, Why? Seahorses will eat them. I wouldn't recommend a manderin, or a sixline wrasse in a 20g with a seahorse. Not going to be a good long term plan.

If the tank is established it is probably just a bloom and will die out soon enough. Just so you know, many people pay for pods to put in there tanks. :D

[porcelaindoll]

I never said they were pods. I'm pretty sure they are not.

[pledosophy]

What makes you think they are not pods? You are describing amphipods pretty perfectly? You even listed the latin name.