What is this weird thing sucking on my glass?

[nosidam]

I just cleaned the inside glass yesterday and today I noticed this white speck stuck on it. It's very tiny, about 0.5mm long. To get the following photos, I had to use an 8x lupe and take a photo through it (which explains the quality). It seems to have a round part that is sucking on the glass, and about 5 legs (for lack of a better word).

Any ideas about what it is and how to deal with it?

Thanks.

 

[valdok]

looks like a saltwater tank. and it looks like a very young cnidarian organism. do you have any coral or anemones in your tank?

 

[nosidam]

eek! I left out tank details...

10g freshwater tank with gravel, three java ferns, 1 anubias. Aquaclear Mini with sponges only, 1/2 flow.
3 smaller sized swordtails, 3 corys, 1 fancy guppy.
15% water change at least once a week.

 

[30GalTnk]

hmmmm....

maybe a parasite

 

[valdok]

in that case, looks like a hydra.

 

[revengeishere]

Originally posted by valdok
in that case, looks like a hydra.

ditto!

looks so much like a hydra!

here is a picture(compare it to yours):

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag...oscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artfeb02/hwdaphnia4.html

 

[valdok]

i wish those little buggers would grow in my tank.

 

[wayne]

Why - p.i.t.a. - but yes, that's a hydra

 

[nosidam]

Yeah, guess it's a hydra.
Any ideas how it got in there? I haven't fed live foods ever.
Will it hurt my fish? Do I have to worry about it?

Thanks.

 

[catfishmike]

it will eat small fry.hydra genraly appear when you feed live baby brine shrimp often,or so i have read.hydra can sting ina very similar fashion to anemones and can even kill fish if they a stung too many times.some preaditors of hydra are:snails,blue gouramis,bettas.if i can drege up my issue of tfh with the article on hydras i'll try to post more info

 

[ducksarefun]

catfishmike, I heard that gouramis often eat them. My opaline gouramis never really bothered with them when I had them, but they've all dissappeared.

nosidam- they can come in on plants too

 

[nosidam]

Didn't know that, thought they only came in with live food.
I haven't added a new live plant in 8 months, though. If it did come from them, I guess I have been missing them for all this time, or one of my fish was eating them (I did have a Dwarf Gourami up until two weeks ago).

Anything I can do about them other than tearing down the tank and starting over?

Thanks.

-josh

 

[valdok]

hydras don't get very big--and they won't really eat any fish--especially if they're only half a millimeter across. if it gets bigger though, i'd take it off the glass.

 

[catfishmike]

yea gouramis will eat them but you kinda have to starve them first cause they would rather eat prepaired foods first.i'm still looking for that mag.

 

[Gomer]

they will go away on their own as long as the water conditions are good.

 

[catfishmike]

ok here goes
hydra are freshwater cnidarians,they are most likely introuced with plants.they are highly sensitive to saltwater(so an increase in salinity may be one soulution to kill them if the fish can take it)apple snails,pomacea bridgesi to be exact are also good at eating hydra.i have shortened this info in the article greatly because most of it was just ranting about how much the author hated hydra so i just cut to the point.

 

[sugarbear001]

I may be a bit thick but why would one keep them.... I dont think I would..... to strange for me.. DO they serve a purpose.. if so what?

call this fact gathering to expand knowledge for the gray matter