Pod population crash/cycle ?

[dragon0121]

Dr. Ron,
Over the first 5 months I had my tank set up I slowly ramped feeding up to a set amount, determined by ice cube trays. I then fed this same amount daily, along with a shot of golden pearls and cryopaste every couple days, and watched the pods and mysis shrimp populations explode. They would be swarming the sand at night. Suffered through the first cyano bloom at about three months and then life was good! At eight months I suffered a large cyano bloom with no change in feeding, and when it dawned on me to check, the pod population had crashed big time. Probably less than 1/4 of the life visible at night. Now I'm fighting the cyano while trying to get the pod populations back up. Is it normal for massive die-offs in pod populations? Do they tend to cycle in population? Or should I be able to reach a happy medium where the population is at equilibrium?

TIA

[rshimek]

Howdy,

Yes, the populations of these critters do tend to fluctuate, but generally not outrageously and generally within stable bounds. There are a number of possibilities, but the most likely is that there is something in the system that is killing them. I think this is mostly likely another crustacean or a fish.

If the tank has been fed well, and it seems to have been, then the potential for some sort of other change around the time of the crash might be implicated as the cause of the problem.

Can you recall anything that you changed about that time? Or were there any changes in the tank at that time?