What is this on my aquarium glass?


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Harmless microfauna (maybe Vorticella) inbetween biofilm, moving in the current.
 

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  • Thread Starter
  • #3
It looks like it's stuck to the glass with a bit dangling off. They're all over my tank. Anything that will eat them?
 
To my eyes that looks like hydra?
Especially in the video ,looking at the arms swaying.

Yes some fish will eat hydra before they starve from lack of food.
 

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Hydra are also possible. Seem a bit round for them, but possible.
 
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  • #6
I looked at other pictures of hydra on aquarium tanks doesn't look like what I got. Do you think if I got otos or a bn pleco they would eat it?
 

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I looked at other pictures of hydra on aquarium tanks doesn't look like what I got. Do you think if I got otos or a bn pleco they would eat it?
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No, and please don't get any animals for that purpose.

If you feel disturbed by it, just remove it with a paper towel. Even your bare hand will suffice.
 
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  • #8
No, and please don't get any animals for that purpose.

If you feel disturbed by it, just remove it with a paper towel. Even your bare hand will suffice.
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I was planning on getting either or anyway but wanted to know if it's a sign they'll have something to graze on when I'm not feeding as I mostly have diatom algae in the tank which idk if they will eat either.
 
I was planning on getting either or anyway but wanted to know if it's a sign they'll have something to graze on when I'm not feeding as I mostly have diatom algae in the tank which idk if they will eat either.
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Oh this can be answered quickly. If the tank is running less than 6 months, it's not ready for Otos. And plecos are not exclusively aufwuchs eaters.
 
Hydra.
Kill it.
Many use Fenbendazole commonly found in dog dewormers.
Ask if you want links and directions to safely kill them.
 
Hydra.
Kill it.
Many use Fenbendazole commonly found in dog dewormers.
Ask if you want links and directions to safely kill them.
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Unless this is a breeding tank this is overkill. Shooting sparrows with a cannon if you will.
 

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Unless this is a breeding tank this is overkill. Shooting sparrows with a cannon.
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Regardless of if there is any danger to small fry, the hydra will likely not just die off without help.
Just my limited experience in dealing with them in my fish room.
I did not wait long to treat and it was easy peasy, but I did leave some tanks un treated with hopes a fish would eat them.
That NEVER happened for me. o_O
 
I still don't get the problem and why everybody fears them. *shrug*
 
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  • #14
Hydra.
Kill it.
Many use Fenbendazole commonly found in dog dewormers.
Ask if you want links and directions to safely kill them.
Click to expand...
What do they do apart from looking bad?
 
It will spread . Any arm that’s broken will grow a new hydra. I would not use a paper towel on it .

For me I grow my best clumps on the glass directly beneath the spots I squirt live baby brine daily.
At water change time you can play with it using a single sided razor blade. But it will never go away . Even with using Fenbendazole i have to dose a few times and be careful about spreading it to another tank .

What do they do.
They sting small fish trying to catch them the same way they catch and kill live baby brine.
 
What do they do apart from looking bad?
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They eat fish fry and shrimplets, but that's only relevant if you breed fish or inverts and aim for high yields from a breeding project.
 
What do they do apart from looking bad?
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They are miniature fresh water anemones that try to eat everything they touch by stinging it first.
They will multiply quickly if conditions are right and there is no real ' safe and effective' way to mechanically remove them.
Some pests whether large or small just need removing IMO
They multiply by fission, meaning when you clean your glass and scrape them into pieces each piece will become a new one.
 
If that is hydra (not sure), and despite it being precisely not what you are told to do (some say that wiping hydra spreads body parts from which they can regenerate throughout the tank), I wiped a colony off the glass last year and did not see another one for months and months. I recently found a few more, but the numbers are low and I do not mind a few in the tank. The wiping did not lead to any sort of population explosion. But that's just my experience.
 
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  • #19
Apparently it could be cuz I feed too much bbs. I will reduce my bbs feedings and see what happens. Maybe only feed flakes for a while or feed less to get fish interested in eating them.
 
I have never seen a fish eat hydra.

When you dose your normal deworming routine it will kill most of them in 40 minutes.
 
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  • #21
I have never seen a fish eat hydra.

When you dose your normal deworming routine it will kill most of them in 40 minutes.
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I don't have a dewormer. Which would you recommend?
 

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I don't have a dewormer. Which would you recommend?
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It's not even always necessary. I'd only use one when getting wild caught fish or if feeding wild caught live food regularly.
 
I don't have a dewormer. Which would you recommend?
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You will only need 1 gram, one pouch from smallest pack most box/pet stores sell.
You mix 1 gram with 200ml water to make the 'solution'.
Then you dose 20ml of the mixed solution per 10 g of tank.
You should see it work quick and be able to change water and hopefully be done with them in 3 days without a second treatment if caught early enough.
 
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  • #24
View attachment 868317
You will only need 1 gram, one pouch from smallest pack most box/pet stores sell.
You mix 1 gram with 200ml water to make the 'solution'.
The you dose 20ml of the mixed solution per 10 g of tank.
You should see it work quick and be able to change water and hopefully be done with them in 3 days without a second treatment if caught early enough.
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Does this harm anything else? Beneficial bacteria, snails, blackworms living in substrate?
It's not even always necessary. I'd only use one when getting wild caught fish or if feeding live food regularly.
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I feed my home cultured blackworms and bbs that's it. Still necessary?
 
It can affect small snails but it never did a thing to any of mine.
I had no effect on fish, snails, plants or my filters. My treatment comes from shrimp keepers!
No other med works in 3 days for any real fish issues. Meds really work by amount installed versus the size of life you are trying to eradicate. Larger issues need stronger meds and longer exposure.
It is the small size of the hydra that makes them an easy target for the ' mild' med.
Larger life forms have more resilience to it.
 
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  • #27
I'm not even sure it's hydra. I don't see any tentacles, just a white fuzzy hairy thing coming off something stuck to the glass. Could the tentacles just be that small?
 
Doesn't look like what I got if I'm honest. Could just be very small hydra though and therefore it looks different
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It doesnt look like Hydra to me either. Look up the Vorticella MacZ mentioned.
 
They do not look like Hydra to me, either. Hydra tend to have the tentacles spread out so that they can sting and pull in food from a wider area. The tight bundle on these is typical of the Vorticella, as MacZ suggested.
 

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Those ones would be Zoothamnium, very similar to Vorticella. Both are ciliates.
 
So a quick search suggests same Fenbendazole will clean them up for you Noam ?

I don’t know or care what the correct what scientific name is for I have in my tanks. It may well be called Zoothamuium . I guess I have learnt something today before breakfast?
 
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  • #36
Those ones would be Zoothamnium, very similar to Vorticella. Both are ciliates.
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Are these harmful? If so what do I do to get rid of them?
 
Are these harmful? If so what do I do to get rid of them?
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No not harmful. Clean the tank a little more than normal and it should go away.
 
Always mix them up.
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Yeah, it's made more difficult by the fact that many pictures of Vorticella online are just misidentified Zoothamnium. The latter is actually far more commonly seen posted on forums.

Just remember that if there are multiple zooids branching from a single stem, like a tree, then it's Zoothamnium. Or Carchesium. But many species between the two can look very similar, so easiest just to say Zoothamnium. Pic

Each vorticella zooid only has a single stalk. Colonies aren't actually connected. So you'll usually just see a bunch of dots that cover a wider area. Pic
So a quick search suggests same Fenbendazole will clean them up for you Noam ?
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It can, but for these guys it really isn't needed. They'll usually pop up when there is a ready supply of bacteria and algae to filter from the water. So they don't usually last too long, water changes over time tend to cause them to vanish on their own.
 
Yeah, it's made more difficult by the fact that many pictures of Vorticella online are just misidentified Zoothamnium. The latter is actually far more commonly seen posted on forums.

Just remember that if there are multiple zooids branching from a single stem, like a tree, then it's Zoothamnium. Or Carchesium. But many species between the two can look very similar, so easiest just to say Zoothamnium. Pic

Each vorticella zooid only has a single stalk. Colonies aren't actually connected. So you'll usually just see a bunch of dots that cover a wider area. Pic

It can, but for these guys it really isn't needed. They'll usually pop up when there is a ready supply of bacteria and algae to filter from the water. So they don't usually last too long, water changes over time tend to cause them to vanish on their own.
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They looked like single stalks to me not trees. Thats why I thought Vort.
 
I see. I suppose their size and the quality didn't make it the easiest to see.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • #41
They are miniature fresh water anemones that try to eat everything they touch by stinging it first.
They will multiply quickly if conditions are right and there is no real ' safe and effective' way to mechanically remove them.
Some pests whether large or small just need removing IMO
They multiply by fission, meaning when you clean your glass and scrape them into pieces each piece will become a new one.
Click to expand...
Turns out I do have hydra in my tank. They started spreading among the leaves of my plants but none are on the glass. I stopped feeding live food for now and I ordered some no planaria as I heard that is good for hydra as well. How have you treated for hydra?
 

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No planeria will work on hydra. I would read if it will harm snails though.
 
I use fenbendazole that can found at any box pet store.
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You mix one packet [ 1 gram] of 22% fenbendazole with 200ml. water. this is your solution.
Then you dose 20ml.of the solution per 10g.of tank.
Should work in two - three days.
It should not harm large snails in that time.
Pretty safe and easy IMO.
Just water change extra next couple times after treatment.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • #44
No planeria will work on hydra. I would read if it will harm snails though.
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I will take most of my snails out just in case.
 
No planaria will kill snails. Keep them out until you’re confident you’ve done over 100% water changes .. as in 4x 50%.
 

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