Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Fiona on September 16, 2014, 02:50:36 PM
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I just noticed this morning that on some of my plants there are these weird little things growing. They're only a few millimetres in size, they look like little white tubes with tendrils fanning out the top. I have no idea at all how they got there or where they came from as I haven't added anything new to the tank for weeks. Anyone know what they are? They're far too small to get a piccy of.
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Google hydra viridis and see if they look like your invaders. There are a few different species of hydra, yours might not be viridis but the all look more or less the same.
Not a bad invader though they have been known to sting and kill small fry. Adult fish are too big to be harmed by them. Some fish will even eat them.
There is a way to get rid of them though I wouldn't use it lightly. Wormer plus, the discus med, kills them but it also kills snails and possibly shrimps. And if you can live with them it's better than dosing the tank with a powerful medication.
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Spot on again Sue ;) They're tiny atm so I might just live with them and see what happens, they're more than welcome to my snails, I'm plagued by the blasted things and seriously considering getting some assassin snails to reduce the numbers
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I had hydra in my tank several years ago, I recognised them from biology lessons. That's how I know about wormer plus, and how I discovered that it kills snails even after using carbon to remove the med :(
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Well I added 3 assassin snails to the tank yesterday so I guess I'll put up with them and/or remove by hand if neccesary. I saw one of the assassins chowing down on a pond snail this morning, a most gratifying sight