Tiny Organisms In Tank

[sabean]

HI a few months ago I went out and collected duckweed that naturally grows where I live for my aquarium. there are no fish in the tank currently so I was lazy and just dumped the duckweed in half cup of water and everything.
I had a water bug that stayed for a week but it died so I assumed everything else I dragged along died too, especially because I wasn’t taking care of the tank and was letting it sit for ammonia levels to rise out of control blah blah.
Unimportant.
I noticed tiny dot sized things darting around in my tank kinda like baby brine shrimp. some of them are white with a head and a split tail sort of end and another is a brown dot that looks like a tiny egg but they’re on the surface moving around. there’s another little thing in there that looks kind of like the first thing I mentioned but smaller with one little tail. I’m just curious as to what they are. they’re super small so I can’t get a pic but does it sound familiar?

 

[Demeter]

Amphipods and copepods. There's many types you find in planted tanks. They are harmless and great foods for fry, in fact that is probably what most fry in the wild feed on.

 

[CanadianFishFan]

Amphipods and copepods. There's many types you find in planted tanks. They are harmless and great foods for fry, in fact that is probably what most fry in the wild feed on.

I always see them flying around in my tank, its cool but kinda scary of how do these appear when all I added was a fish and some water... they just appear!

 

[Kyleena696]

I always see them flying around in my tank, its cool but kinda scary of how do these appear when all I added was a fish and some water... they just appear!

I feel the same way about beneficial bacteria when no bottled bacteria is added. How does that just appear in the filter?

 

[FriarThomasIII]

I have those that pop up, but I also have these weird, tiny stalk looking thing with hair tentacle things on the end. Almost reminds me of coral. Thoughts?

 

[Kyleena696]

I have those that pop up, but I also have these weird, tiny stalk looking thing with hair tentacle things on the end. Almost reminds me of coral. Thoughts?

Sounds like hydra. I'd start your own thread and include some pictures if you can get them.

 

[Plover]

I have those that pop up, but I also have these weird, tiny stalk looking thing with hair tentacle things on the end. Almost reminds me of coral. Thoughts?

hydras?

 

[FriarThomasIII]

They just kind of popped up, though my rosy red minnow in there won't eat them, I don't think.

 

[lizcateyes]

The eggs of some of the Amphipods and copepods must remain viable for a while, just too small to see without a microscope. As an old professor of mine was fond of saying, "It's a microbial world, after all." I try to disinfect plants before adding them to my tanks, but have had snails crop up even after bleaching/disinfecting aggressively to try to avoid having them appear :-/

 

[Carolyn V]

I am having a similar experience I have had a planted tank cycling for 3 weeks with no fish in it. Four days ago I put a new betta fish in it. In all the time I have had the tank going there has been nothing in it except for the plants. I have not seen anything crawling around. Today, though, I saw some brown crawly things on the sides of the tank and some of them congregated by a rock. They are very tiny and then I thought they might be uneaten food but as I continued to look I saw them crawling around. They might be tiny snails but where did they come from as they were not there when I put my one little betta into the tank 4 days ago. Will they hurt my fish? I thought I should do a water change but I just did a major change two days ago and don't want to stress out my fish. Should I just leave them there and what are they?

 

[FriarThomasIII]

hydras?

Crikey! I looked them up and they apparently can sting the goodness of fish fry and small creatures. How would I get rid of them?

 

[Plover]

Crikey! I looked them up and they apparently can sting the goodness of fish fry and small creatures. How would I get rid of them?

Yeah, I think of them as like freshwater sea anemones. Pretty cool animals, but definitely not something you want in a tank with shrimp or fish fry.

I've had them pop up in 3 of my tanks before (all 3 now appear to be hydra-free), and here's what I know:

Tank 1: My Betta seemed to enjoy eating them and they eventually went away. I can't honestly say whether he cleared them all out or whether it was something else. I've also read that gouramis will eat them.

Tank 2: Quarantine tank, housing guppies at the time. I started treating the tank with Prazipro and the hydras cleared up really quickly. I've read elsewhere about people having good luck killing them with either prazI or fenbendazole. I have no idea whether the guppies in the tank contributed or not, but the hydras seem to be gone now.

Tank 3: Ember and cardinal tetras. Oddly enough, the hydras just sort of disappeared after a couple of weeks. I have no idea if tetras will eat them, but I never personally saw it happen. I also had ramshorn snails in there but I don't know if that made a difference... I've read somewhere that ramshorns will eat them, but other folks think that's just a myth. I can't confirm one way or the other. Either way, I haven't seen any in that tank in about 3 months.

One other thing: I would not recommend trying to scrub them off of plants,decorations, etc. without removing them from the tank first. Hydras typically reproduce by budding and if you break one apart, you'll likely end up with even more. I have had some success with vacuuming up free-floaters, but once they're attached to something, they really hold on tight.

Hope this helps; maybe some more experienced folks can offer up other solutions. Good luck!

 

[FriarThomasIII]

Yeah, I think of them as like freshwater sea anemones. Pretty cool animals, but definitely not something you want in a tank with shrimp or fish fry.

I've had them pop up in 3 of my tanks before (all 3 now appear to be hydra-free), and here's what I know:

Tank 1: My Betta seemed to enjoy eating them and they eventually went away. I can't honestly say whether he cleared them all out or whether it was something else. I've also read that gouramis will eat them.

Tank 2: Quarantine tank, housing guppies at the time. I started treating the tank with Prazipro and the hydras cleared up really quickly. I've read elsewhere about people having good luck killing them with either prazI or fenbendazole. I have no idea whether the guppies in the tank contributed or not, but the hydras seem to be gone now.

Tank 3: Ember and cardinal tetras. Oddly enough, the hydras just sort of disappeared after a couple of weeks. I have no idea if tetras will eat them, but I never personally saw it happen. I also had ramshorn snails in there but I don't know if that made a difference... I've read somewhere that ramshorns will eat them, but other folks think that's just a myth. I can't confirm one way or the other. Either way, I haven't seen any in that tank in about 3 months.

One other thing: I would not recommend trying to scrub them off of plants,decorations, etc. without removing them from the tank first. Hydras typically reproduce by budding and if you break one apart, you'll likely end up with even more. I have had some success with vacuuming up free-floaters, but once they're attached to something, they really hold on tight.

Hope this helps; maybe some more experienced folks can offer up other solutions. Good luck!

So I read that heating the tank to 106 for a few hours will kill them, but it didn't. I held the temp for about 6 hours. THen I put a rosy red minnow and paradise gouramI from my 30 into there and they both are eating them little by little. They are just really annoying so I can't raise my fry in the tank, so it looks like they are staying in the net breeder box until they mature.