White creatures what is that

[green plant]

Observed some white creatures in one of the small tank. It is not a worm as it can swimly. From the naked eye it looks like dirty water, closer look with magnifying glass and it looks like BBS but much smaller in size, it swim and thumble like BBS.

I have been doing a 25% water change for the pass three days as this is a hospital tank for my make killies that is infected with fungus/baeria on the month. The killie is recovering but woriied that the creature may affect the killies.

Anyone know what is that? How to get rid of them without a 100% water change which will affect the Killie.

Koh Heng,

[stormhawk]

What you have there might either be tiny copepods or just small organisms like paramecium. They're not a cause for worry since these will usually leave the adult fish alone. Fry however, will relish these as snacks.

[green plant]

Jianyang,

Do you means there are snacks for the fries? if it is not, how to get rid of them? I am concern that I might accidently introduce them to the bigger tank when I release the cured Killies into that tank.

It seems there are type two or more types of creature.
- Some like BBS and some like jelly fish. (transparent).



Koh Heng

What you have there might either be tiny copepods or just small organisms like paramecium. They're not a cause for worry since these will usually leave the adult fish alone. Fry however, will relish these as snacks.

[RonWill]

Some like BBS and some like jelly fish. (transparent)

Transparent, jellyfish-like?
Koh Heng, that sounds like hydra... looking somewhat like a marine tubeworm that 'flowers' at the end of the tube.

Do a search within the forum. I believe that Kwek Leong has posted a nice pic of it.

[stormhawk]

That jelly fish comment raised some alarm bells here. It may be or should be hydra as Ron has mentioned. Take the necessary precautions when re-introducing the fish back to the main tank. You would not want hydra in your tanks.

[whuntley]

Hydra are bad news around really tiny babies. They sting and attach to anything touching their tentacles, so grow and multiply rapidly when feeding bbs. Unfortunately, they can sting and even kill baby fish.

Flubendazole readily kills them, I think, but I never have any. I use a 3-day treatment with formaldehyde, usually. In a pinch I have found that "Amquel" the dechloraminator works almost as well. None of those are good for infusoria, in general, so I try to avoid the overfeeding that causes Hydra to explode.

Wright

[green plant]

Thanks for all the input. I will make sure the small tak is free of Hydra or what ever creatures before re-introduce the fish into the main tank.

The question is where did it come from? Frozen blood worm, tap water or air born?

Without knowing why, I am afraid my other tank may be infested one day.

Koh Heng.

[whuntley]

Thanks for all the input. I will make sure the small tak is free of Hydra or what ever creatures before re-introduce the fish into the main tank.

The question is where did it come from? Frozen blood worm, tap water or air born?

Without knowing why, I am afraid my other tank may be infested one day.

Koh Heng.

Hi Koh Heng,

The answer to your question is "none of the above."

Hydra and other smaller critters (collectively called infusoria, including paramecia and rotifers) are usually brought into a tank on plants or wet or damp aquarium equipment. Mulm or used filter inserts used to quick-start cycling may contain them, too.

They are present in most aquariums, make wonderful first live foods for babies, and are generally harmless (with the exception of hydra and copepods like cyclops that will attack babies).

I encourage most infusoria by avoiding formaldehyde and the similar dechloraminators, as they are good baby food. I do try to dry nets between use to avoid moving the unwanted ones, like hydra, from tank to tank.

I put a sprig or small wad of Java Moss in any new egg-hatching container, and encourage a "bloom" of infusoria with a drop of Liquifry #1 or a small floated piece of lettuce. That doesn't encourage hydra as they do best with live baby brine shrimp, green water ( Euglena species), o/e.

Wright

[erikthur]

One can also use table salt (sodium cloride) against hydra.
3 ml per litre water is usually sufficient.
One should take care when lowering the salt content after the treatment.

[TyroneGenade]

Observed some white creatures in one of the small tank. It is not a worm as it can swimly. From the naked eye it looks like dirty water, closer look with magnifying glass and it looks like BBS but much smaller in size, it swim and thumble like BBS.

This does not sound anything like Hydra. What is sounds like is a the end results of an infusoria bloom. I can see the same type of thing in my infusoria cultures. They look like little worms and so forth swimming (tumbling) in the wate. This is probably a small nematode worm and is probably good food. The other option is a small copepod that may or maynot be trouble. Another option is protozoans like diatoms and ciliates that tend to be long, thin, "hairy" and tumble about in the water.

I am fairly certain it IS NOT HYDRA. If you really want to kill it then does with malachite green. Final concentration 0.2 mg/L. You can increase the dose to 2 mg/L but this will probably kill everything. In fact 0.2 mg/L may be too toxic for your fry so start with a lower dose.

tt4n

[whuntley]

The hydra comments were directed at the jellyfish description. The rest sounded just like a normal infusoria bloom.

Wright

[green plant]

I have not introduce any new plant, filter or wet equipment. I transfered some water and Java moss are form the main tank to this plastic tank so that the sick killies fish can be treated separately. Since it can eat, I drop one drop of liquid fry hoping that it could at least eat something.

After reading all the inputs, I think it could be infusoria bloom. The "jelly fish" like creatures doesn't look like the picture posted by Kwek Leong.

As of today most of the creatures suddently dies, still one or two swining around but very weak. Not sure if they were killed by the salt ( very little only) or the medication for the fungus.

Thanks for all the help.
For curiousity sake, I may try to simulate and see if I could see the creatures again. That will be after my killies is fully recovred and tranfer back to the main tank.

Koh Heng.

The hydra comments were directed at the jellyfish description. The rest sounded just like a normal infusoria bloom.

Wright

[TyroneGenade]

Ah... was that Java moss from a well established tank? Add such a sprig og moss to a fertile tank and you can have such a thick infusoria bloom it can suffocate fish!