fionah

Hello, please help me identify this white substance growing in my tank. I can see it growing on the heater and glass.

The tank has only been set up a 2nd week. I decided to start from scratch again after all the fish kept dying. The tank has 3 fish in it so far with used filter media from my 2nd tank (the 2nd tank does not have the white growth).

I have read on other websites that this could be Hydra. However, I'm not sure if it is, because it just looks like flecks of dust everywhere.

Attached Images

	1.JPG (92.9 KB, 11 views)
	2.JPG (76.4 KB, 12 views)

platy ben

Looks like hyrda to me, how big is your tank, and what fish do you have in there already?

fionah

The tank is 65 litres. I have a corydora, neon tetra and black tetra (I'm not sure of the exact name of the black fish). I also have 5 amano shrimps and some live plants.

mathas

It's hard to tell from those pictures, but hydra and planaria are both possibilities.

It may be worth checking this post at plantedtank.net for extreme closeup pictures of each, and see if it helps you determine what you have.

fionah

I've just found a couple more websites of what other people say is Hydra, but they both look nothing like mine:
http://naturalaquariums.com/inverts/hydra.html
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/P8310290.jpg

My white particles do not have tentacles on the end. They are only about 2mm long.
Are there any tests I can carry out to be sure this is Hydra?

platy ben

When i had hydra all i done to get rid of them was to buy 2 pearl gouramis, they eat them and they love them

fionah

I think pearl gouramis would be too big for my 65l tank. But I also read that blue gouramis would be good for it.

Would blue gouramis be compatible with blue rams? I have one blue ram in my 2nd tank that is being quarantined just now (just bought last week) and was hoping to put that in the main tank.

platy ben

Yeh they would probably work, you could try it out

fishlover78

they should work together, would ottos clean that up? just out of curiosty!

fionah

One thing I am curious about is how the hydra has not appeared on my 2nd tank. I thought maybe the hydra was introducded via new live plants or live foods. However, both tanks contain plants from the same batch, and both tanks have had live bloodworms added in the past week. Until now, I have also used the same net, syphon etc in both tanks.