What on earth are these?

K

kim

Guest
Calling all the fishy people out there, well i hope you will know... what on earth are these.. ? The tank is a bit green because its now infront of a window.. but they weren't there last night.. They dont seem like 'bugs'.. but are attached to most things in the tank but it dont seem like they are on the axies them selfs.. They are no bigger than 1cm.. and they wave in the tiny current that i have...
I dont think they are anything to worry about.. but i thought i'd be best to check them out!


Thanks!

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Definately hydra. Very cool, and very harmless (unless you are a Daphnia). Kim, may I use your photo in the critters article on Caudata Culture?
 
Yeah of course you can jen... I could try and get a closer picture if you like?

May thanks for the help.. How on earth did i get them?? They all of a sudden popped up from no where!?
 
My guess would be they came in on the new plants you got for your tank.
 
I HATE those things. They got in with my daphnia. As I was feeding my fry daphnia the hydra were eating the fry. I had 3 kinds of daphnia. One day I just dumped them all out. Argh!
 
AHH ok then!.. I want to clean the algae but I strangly enough dont want to clear these little guys.. would getting a snail to get rid of the green/brown ish algae be better? Of if i rub these guys off wil they still come back..?
 
I only have one tank... so no problems there.. if i get a daphina tank set up i'll keep them well away!
 
would getting a snail to get rid of the green/brown ish algae be better? Of if i rub these guys off wil they still come back..?

I read that snails will eat hydra. I also read that if a hydra gets broken into pieces, the pieces will regrow into new hydra.

Disclaimer: I have no personal experience with hydra so I can not vouch for the accuracy of those statements.

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It's true. If there is a significant portion of the animal left, the pieces will grow into new hydra.
 
aahhgg... My tank now seem to be quite over run with them...

Cynthia.. Do you have any idea which snails will eat them? I also looking for a algae eating snail for the green glass i have.. it may not work but woth a try!
 
Kim, I wouldn't worry about the hydra. They will eat small microorganisms in the water but will not harm adults.
 
I read that red ramshorn snails (planorbidae ), apple snails, common pond snails (Limnaea stagnalis) will eat hydra.

Thats not to say other snail species would not eat hydra.

For info on apple snail species see
http://www.applesnail.net/

Have you checked the plants you bought for snails? It is extremely hard to buy live plants that are void of some type of snail. Every time I have purchased live plants they had either pond or ramshorn snails or eggs on them.
 
Cynthia..

I think i have a snail.. the green algae has a little trail in it lol.. nut im looking for one of a resonable size.. not sure if i should go for the apple snails.. because ive rad of axies getting hurt!!

not sure of anyother type tho..
 
lol on the snail trail. I figured you should at least get one, its only fair
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I read the horror story about small axolotls getting hurt by apple snails too. But there are several people on the forum keeping apple snails in their adult axolotl tank. No horror stories from them yet.

One of my axolotls (Jude) is a snail eater, and quickly ate every snail of snackable size from their tank. I only see very tiny snails in there now.

Since you have live plants now you will want to stay clear of the large striped ramshorn snails, they are plant eating machines.
 
Cynthia,

Great info... Ive no as of yet seen my axies eat a snal.. but we shall see!! :S

I think im going to get a applesnail.. at least if it causes any problems i can take it back to my little shop!..

I'll keep people up dated on how it goes!
 
I have an apple snail....
I used to have like twelve of them but I dont like them at all.
They poop alot....make ur tank filthy if youve got enough.
they wont eat algae either!they sit there and dont move!
It has never harmed my axies...theyve harmed it... quite a few times
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