cyclops copepods

[JULIE J]

Hi all.
Was just wondering if anyone has ever successfully managed to remove cyclops copepods from their axolotls tank. I bought live plants last year and they must have been introduced then. I have cycled water separately away from the tank and added filter sponges/sand/plants to it and left it for a while then scrubbed the tank clean to try and remove the copepods. I saved most of the old water and tried filtering it through layers of pond mesh and sheets of cotton wool back into the tank to try to trap the copepods and added the sponges/sand/plants back into the tank. This seemed to work for a couple of weeks then i noticed they were back again. Some must have just gotten back in through the mesh. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I really want to get rid of them. I have no other water bound pets so they cannot be food. They are a nuisance and i do not want them in the tank.
Please help.

 

[Jennewt]

Some filters (those with a fine filtration step) would do the trick. I don't usually advocate having any fish with an axolotl, but guppies might get rid of them. But when the guppies die or get eaten by the axolotl, the copepods might return. And there are some downsides of having guppies that are probably more grave than the copepods are.

With almost any "bloom" (sudden burst of growth of some pest species or algae), you get a huge amount of the pest, but if you ride it out (keep up the water changes, remove crud, and maintain the tank well w/o any total clean-outs) it will usually subside on its own after a while. I suspect that if you can resist the urge to eliminate these bugs, they will decrease naturally over time. Once the whole tank ecosystem has enough time to settle in, things balance out.