Churning sub and isopods

For everything isopod - breeding, keeping, and as clean up crews. Also known as pill bugs and rolly-pollies!
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NLindsey921
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Churning sub and isopods

Post by NLindsey921 » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:52 pm

Will churning sub kill my isopod population. I have drawfs and I know they don't normally bury down very far. However I need to churn the sub it's dryer on top and looks like it might be too wet at the bottom. I believe all my crabs are top side. But will this kill my isopods or will they be fine?

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LadyJinglyJones
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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by LadyJinglyJones » Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:50 am

I've been puzzling the same thing... I assume survival depends on how deep a given individual ends up (?).

I settled on using potato traps for two days before a planned churn, catching and temporarily removing as many as I can, to be safe. But I don't really know... and if everyone is up, you might not want to wait. :dunno: :penny::
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NLindsey921
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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by NLindsey921 » Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:36 am

I went ahead and did it anyway. What I did was I know a whole lot live right under the food bowl so I grabbed a large handful of the substrate and moved it to a different container. That saved a bunch. I did this twice. I set that container to the side and removed all crabs and decorations. Then I churned up the sub. I replaced everything and dumped the container with the isopods in it back in the tank. Then I put the crabs back in. I will check in a couple days to see how bad the population dropped. I'm expecting most of the deaths to be babies.

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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by aussieJJDude » Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:45 am

Since its been churned, I imagine that the majority should survive since the substrate has not compressed yet - aka complete lack of airflow. You may have some deaths, but from my experiences most should make it that ypu will barely see a population drop - and since you have dwarfs, I'd imagine that most would make it unlike larger species available.

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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by GotButterflies » Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:33 pm

In the future, you could always put a piece of bark in before you churn the sub and they will flock to that :)
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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by Kermie16 » Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:24 pm

Mine seem to have a few favorite spots - coco wall, cholla , cork rounds and under our big rock and oyster shells. I recently took everything out of the tank, turned the sub and replaced everything and I am still seeing plenty of isopods so not much harm done!


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NLindsey921
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Re: Churning sub and isopods

Post by NLindsey921 » Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:28 pm

The isopods appear to be fine. There is at least 25 adults under the food bowl alone.

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