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Ok so I was looking up close and personal into one of my tanks and I found a bunch of white things that look kind of like this. They are really quite small and seem to be growing out of brownish algae on some of my wood and rocks in the tank. They might be growing on the sand to but white thngs on light colored sand is are to see. I am not freaking out about it but I am just wondering what the heck they are. I hope my picture I drew works for you all... Thanks!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Most probably these are hydra that prefer stagnant waters and feed upon daphnia or other extremely small organisms. They replicate themselves by process of asexual reproduction, but other than this I have no further information. Internet search engines may be useful.

Last edited by zachjc_14 at 16-Oct-2005 19:33

Ok I just did a search for hydra and here is what I have found for a picture but no info yet. Thanks for the first lead!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Definitely Hydra...

They are not harmful to fish unless they are small fry (as they are pretty much just very small anemones). I'm not quite sure how to get rid of them, but I've heard gouramis will eat them.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

All I have in this tank is my Warmouth and a Crayfish.

55g.
no heat
pool sand sub.
Penguin 110 and 170 on it.

The hydra are really really small. Would it hurt to drop my 7 inch pleco in there to eat on the algae and take out some of these things?

Where do they come from?



Last edited by Wingsdlc at 16-Oct-2005 21:29

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

The pleco most likely wouldn't touch them. How big is your Warmouth? I bet if you could catch a darter, then he'd eat them. But darters tend to be pretty small and can be eaten by a large Warmouth.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

My warmouth is about 6 or 7 inches long. Right now I am feeding him some mollies and guppies that I need to thin out. The mollies he has to work a bit to get them but normaly does after a bit. He is not the fastest fish around..

What type of darter fish were you thinking of? There is also the thing about having no heater in the tank or are you thinking of a cold water fish? Or wait.....is a darter the kind of fish? I haven't heard of those if that is the case...type of minow? I guess I need some help here.

All the hydro are attached to stuff.... at least the ones that I see are. Do they swimm around. What I was thinking for the pleco was he would break them off and they could get sucked in the filter...

Last edited by Wingsdlc at 16-Oct-2005 22:21

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Darters are small (usually under 5") Perciforms native to the Eastern US. If you live east of the Rockies, there is most likely a darter species near you. They like to eat small invertebrates.








Last edited by Cory Addict at 16-Oct-2005 23:21

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I live in MI but I have never heard of them. Are they basicly a minow of some sort? Pictures?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

They are not minnows; they are bottom-dwelling Perciforms.

I don't have any pictures because they don't live around here, but a quick Google search will yield many results.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Finding and collecting darters isn't always the easiest thing. I've never actually seen one and I know there are a few species around here. I'd love to get ahold of a few but I think I'll look on aquabid before going through a huge effort to catch one myself.
Aquarium products fluke tabs have been known to kill most hydra within 4hrs-2days depending on the species. Lowering the ph to 5.0 or below will also kill them off but it depends how hard your water is now as to how easy that would be and whether your fish would survive it.

I dont have to really worry about them hurting anything do I? The Hydra that is..

Perciforms

They really look like gobies!

Last edited by Wingsdlc at 17-Oct-2005 22:45

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hydra are rarely dangerous to anything but small fry. There are some slightly larger species of hydra but even then so long as your fish are over 1" there is no danger. Some hydra can multiply to the point they take over a tank and I've seen pictures of tanks with a carpet of hydra across the bottom. If they don't bother you and aren't getting out of control I'd probably leave it.

Oh my god hydra freak me out. They look like aliens. I have to admit I would setup a Q tank, move the fish out, and decimate them. But like I say, I would be over-reacting. Something about aliens.

Thanks for you help everyone!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric