Hydras?

[banjocat]

Today I found these on my q tanks' glass. There are close to a hundred of them. My first guess was hydra, but the tentacles look more feather like than most pictures I have seen of hydras. Some in the q tank are even more bushy looking than the drawing. They are just moving back and forth in the current. Their small size makes it hard to tell, but I think they are transparent

I don't know if this is related. Yesterday I discovered that the filter had been unplugged on my Q tank. I'm not sure how long, because the filter is quieter than the air pump. I'm hopeing that it was only off for less than a day. I did a 30% water change to be safe.

Can tentacles on hydras look feather like? Could this look be caused by food/debre that the hydra has caught?

Am I right in thinking that they should be harmless to my 3 inch bichir who is in the Q tank? I don't want to kill them unless they are a danger. I might even be interested in transfering some to a different container

When I started the q tank I kept the cycled water from the fish that used to live in the aquarium. One of the fish was a opaline gourami. I've learned from a search on this site that opaline gouramis will eat hydras. Maybe I always had hydras and the gourami was keeping them under control.

Thanks

 

[banjocat]

Tonight I wiped the hydras off of the glass. I then did a 27% water change and sucked up anything organic I saw floating in the water. I doubt this will eliminate them, but hopefully it should reduce their numbers for a little while.

 

[Paullywolly]

hydra are harmless except maybe to the smallest of fry. Some fish graze on them. They certainly wont hurt your bichir. They will eventually die off.

 

[banjocat]

Thanks, thats what I thought. The ones in the q tank, just look different than pics of hydras I have seen. They look closer to a dandelion seed(a small one) than the pics of hydras.

There are still some on the glass. Since there is nothing other than hydra that I think they could be, I'll probably let them go for the time being.

 

[t0p_sh0tta]

I have the same in my tank, and I found this pic:

They don't resemble any hydra that I've ever seen. They are in higher concentrations where there is more flow.

I'm going to try scraping mine and see what happens. The problem with hydra is that they can regenrate, so scraping can lead to little hydra pieces = more hydra.

Good luck!

 

[banjocat]

It's hard to tell from the pic, but they are probably the same as what I have. defenitly closer than any other pics I've found of hydras. I hope the scraping works out for you

The problem with hydra is that they can regenrate, so scraping can lead to little hydra pieces = more hydra.

Thats why I tried a wc when I tried scaping them off. I probably wasn't able to suck up all of the pieces though.

 

[greyhoundfan]

I had some hydra too. When you go tried to scrape them off, did they retract their tentacles? Sort of like how a bristle worm would. That would be a dead give away.

 

[banjocat]

I didn't really notice. I was just using a paper towl and wiping them off the glass.

If there are still some around, maybe I can touch them with a tweezers or something else.

 

[banjocat]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. For about a week I have also been seeing little white worms in there. From what I've read, they are harmless. Last night I discovered some small white spots swimming around. They are kind of egg shaped. They might have a tail(it's hard to tell because of the size). I don't know if they are water fleas or what.

I counted my water changes and when added up they were over 150% for the month so far. Everytime I check the ammonia and nitrite are zero. Uneaten food and waste that doesn't get sucked out with a filter I pull out with a brine shrimp net.

 

[dthomasi]

Those are probably copepods (sp?). Search other threads and the user "guppy" has posted some pictures. If they match what you see they are actually an indicator of good water quality, they love clean water.