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i just looked in my tank and there are these clearish round parasites sitting on my glass and on my plants! they have a brown orange middle body which surrounded by a clear whitish body and they can survive out of water! (which i just discovered after removing one!)

what are these and how do i get rid of them???

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Got a picture?

What size are they?

Are they sedentary or active?

Do they have visible limbs when they move?

Are any of them actually latching on to your fishes?

There are quite a few unsightly organisms that are not parasitic on your fishes, but which can become a nuisance in an aquarium - planarians or flatworms being just one such example (and of course quite a few people loathe snails!).

Check out the hospital thread on fish lice (namely this thread in which I added links to sites containing information and images pertinent to Argulus, the Fish Louse.

If you DO have Fish Lice, a copper based med should wipe them out. Larger ones can be removed by hand. You'll know if they ARE Fish Lice, however, because they can be fairly active, have visible limbs when swimming, can reach as much as 10 mm across in some cases, and when on the move resemble miniature flying saucers with legs. They're usually far more problematic in Goldfish and Koi ponds than in tropical aquaria, but if they find their way into a tropical aquarium, they can be devastating because they're blood-feeders (basically, miniature vampires!) and can overwhelm small fishes such as Neon Tetras in pretty short order.

If you DO have Fish Lice, remove as many of the larger, visible ones as possible, then nuke the remainder with a copper based medication.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i tried to take a pic but they are too small too see properly. The dont seem to be attacking my fish as yet but are covering everything in the aquarium mainly the plants, also on the glass and heater.

most of them are still small only a few mm and the bigger ones are about half a cm. i cant see any visible limbs just a darker body inside the clear round body. They dont look like any of those pics in the thread.

I did a water change/gravel clean on sunday (2 days ago) and i couldnt see them then. Do you think they came in with the water?

What can i use to kill them?

Thanks for your help!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

my tank is stocked with 10 baby cories 1 bristlenose and one tetra (its a work in progress!)
so any meds will have to safe especially with the bn!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Does anyone know any good websites which deal with parasites?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Hmm. And these organisms don't appear to be actively moving ...

I'd watch these closely. If they start extending arms into the water, then you could have an infestation of Hydra. Hydra is a relation of the coral polyps and sea anemones, but in a freshwater aquarium, it's a nuisance. In a fry aquarium, it's a potential killer.

Best way to get rid of Hydra if you don't want to add chemicals to your aquarium? Simple. Three Spot Gouramis, Trichogaster trichopterus, will eat them when they're hungry. Pop a couple of Blue/Three Spot/Cosby Gouramis in there (they're all the same species), and let them go hungry for a couple of days. They'll demolish the parasites if they're Hydra, and are pretty good at demolishing other unwanted invertebrate pests too. If your parasites aren't Hydra, then an adult Betta might pick them off and demolish them for you - once upon a time, adult Bettas were used for cleaning suspect plants of any small unwanted critters that might have been lurking there.

I'd still like a pic if you can get one though, because identifying invertebrates without a pic is hard


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks for all your help Calilasseia!

I will attempt another pic tonite but they are pretty small. I looked this morning and they move but pretty slowly. So you think gouramis would pick them off?

What chems do you suggest if i go that way?

Thanks again!i hate critters in my water!!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Ok i now have pics of the parasite .. i do realise its hard to see but it was the best i could do! i even used a magnifying glass!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f306/daniellewatkins/DSC00452.jpg
and
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f306/daniellewatkins/DSC00454.jpg

im sorry there are not the best.
Any ideas?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

seeing as how you have no evidence that they are attacking your fish I am very hard pressed at you calling them parasites.

the pic isn't helpful. but it looks like it could simply be planarias with a gut full of detritus. hard to say.

They look to me as if they're juvenile freshwater clams that have just metamorphosed from the larval stage into the first adult stages. There are, pardon the pun, some 'acid tests' for this, one of them being a drop of acid on the shell - it should effervesce vigorously as carbon dioxide is liberated from the reaction with the calcium carbonate in the shell. Also, they should be crunchy if you try crushing them between your fingertips.

As for freshwater clams being parasites, well, the adults are OK, but if they reproduce, several species produce larvae that are secondarily parasitic on fishes - these larvae are known as Glochidia, and they attach preferentially to the gills, then the fins of the affected fishes. One or two Glochidia on a fish will be a nuisance, but a swarm of them in an aquarium will constitute a serious threat to your fishes' health. If you have recently had a Glochidia infestation on any of your fishes, these are the adult clams resulting from those larvae.

Fishes most susceptible to attack in an aquarium (i.e., the ones that the Glochidia prefer) tend to be Poeciliid livebearers (Guppies and Mollies especially), Labyrinth Fishes and some Cichlids - the latter because in the wild, native American clams produce Glochidia that preferentially parasitise Sunfishes, which are related to Cichlids. Some Glochidia also attack native American Killies, hence the preference for livebearers in a tropical aquarium - Killies and Poeciliid livebearers are quite closely related, both belonging to the Order Cyprinodontiformes.

So, although they won't necessarily be parasitic as adults, if your organisms turn out to be newly adult freshwater clams, their offspring WILL be parasitic if you let them breed!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

OHH! I had those!

Its just a mollusc of some sort, like limpets at the beach.
It eats the brown algae brilliantly without harming the plants, it cleaned my anubias right up . Worth keeping IMO certainly don't do any harm as far as I could tell



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

dont clams have shells ? these are soft.... same thing???

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Callatya- these are on my plants and glass.. so are they just eating the algae??

How did you get rid of them?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I dont think she did, and its probably not worth bothering. A little unexpected biodiversity in a tank can be pleasant, no need to panic.I doubt the reproductive rate is stunning, If you really want rid of them its probably easy enough to squash them. Molluscs are often good barometers of tank health, personally Id keep them and see what they turn into

No holes in the plants , no foul. They might even be sifting detritus above and below the gravel, which is a nice thing to have.

Thanks longhairedgit i will keep an eye on them and see what happens they are alot of them in the tank now they seem to just multiply!

Ill do my usual w/c this weekend and keep an eye on ..im thinking it was something in the water as they appeared after the w/c i did sunday...

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I just have to say that these things are wonderful whatever they are! they did clean the algae right up! its all gone ! my plants are looking scrubbed and sparkly! ppl should sell these!

my only concern is that they have multiplied and seem set on tank domination

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I just noticed in the other thread about camallanus- these might be the vector for the camallanus instar, the intemediary host!

Terminate them . , it can only lessen the risk of infection, if it was my tank , theyd have to go.

Its really unlucky, I should have spotted it earlier. This doesnt usually happen though.

Awww, bugger.

Oh well, camellanus treatment will probably knock them out anyway. Mine were in with the axies, so they weren't a big issue.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

these are in my 20g not my 55g .. and they so far havent harmed the fish in any way they seem content eating all the algae (much to the annoyance of my bn!) they seem to have multiplied quite significantly..

should i just leave them be ? or squish squish squish??

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

If your sure theyre not the cause then leave them, but if camellanus get into that other tank then squish away, albeit NOT in the tankwater.