What are these in my tank???

[spwd]

I do twice weekly 50% wc now?
i do use pellets but there are never left as the megalodorus eat them,are they harmful or not to the fish,could this be the reason why i lost my bichirs?

steve

 

[LD50]

i would up water changes and add salt

closest thing i could find is Hydra vulgaris

I agree with Hydra, they usually accompany high nutrient levels and usually sneak in on plants and they are harmless unless you have fry. I like everyone els here suggested cut back on feeding, scrape the little buggers off the glass and vac/WC your tank and add some salt. The salt wont kill them off but they dont like it so it will help slow them down while you vac/starve them away. If all els fails copper will kill them off but its hard on your fish, and toxic to any inverts so really only use that as a last resort.

 

[spwd]

Ok guys thanks for the help.
Could they be transfered to another tank if i mved fish or doesnt it work like that?

steve

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Im doing a wc later but i only did one tuesday,am i worrying too much bottomfeeder?
steve

If they are really Hydra, then there's gotta be another reason you lost the Bichirs. Do some detective work!

 

[LD50]

Ok guys thanks for the help.
Could they be transfered to another tank if i mved fish or doesnt it work like that?

steve

I'm not 100% sure but I dont think they travle on the fish, but I'm posative they can be spread by water. So if you want to xfer your fish I would suggest a dip of some sort to keep them from spreading.

 

[spwd]

Thanks again guys and i did a search and it does look like hydra to me.

steve

 

[KAWAMIKIE]

If you have a temporary tank to house your fish move them out. Use new water and net your fish out after acclimatizing them. I wouldn't mix them with your other fish or you risk transferring the crap to your other tanks.
Break down the tank, clean it out, and boil/replace substrate.

 

[navygirl76]

http://www.planetinverts.com/are_hydra_harmful.html

youve got hydra-they usually hitchhike in on plants.. they wont harm fish, but they will eat fish eggs. they usually thrive in dirty tanks, and in this article it says not to dump chemicals in there, and that salt wont help.

it recommends using a fine net-like a brine shrimp net to scoop out as many as possible, bump up the waterchanges, cut down on feedings.. but it shouldnt have killed your fish... hmmm, weird!

 

[West1]

Try and put your fish net somewhat close to current so the canister does all the work. Just dump them out every hr or so (just an idea)

As for Pellets, even if you use Massivore that sticks together even as it is soaked, there is always little pcs that float around. Best way is right as you drop in most pellets, they leave a curtain of crums in the water. Parasites mouth are extremely small and perfect to feed on that (or when fish chew on them, usually tiny tiny pcs come out of their gills).

I use pellets once a week... usually a few hrs before I do a W/C as Massivore Stinks up my water. I mainly feed Shrimp/scallops/silversides

Hope you get them out soon but it sounds like they are harmless to grown fish

 

[RedDwarf]

What you have there are hydra, as everyone else has already stated. Since you already do fairly large wc more water changes won't really help. You have to address how much your feeding and how often. I would recommend that you cut back on your feeding by 1/2 until the hydra get staved out of your tank. Only other option to remove them is to physically remove them by scraping the sides of the tank and washing everything in the there (I don't recommend that). The hydra didn't lead to your bichirs dying but tell me that your nutrient load in your tank is extremely high. Sorry for your loss, and I hope you can get things all straightened out. Just cut back on the feeding and the hydra will vanish in a few days. The salt won't help with the hydra and they usually show up after heavy feedings of brine shrimp.