# Hydra? small, puffy white things on glass



## Alexa (Sep 16, 2010)

*Hydra? Algae? small, puffy white things on glass*

I am lost.

Yesterday I noticed my water was cloudy and the surface had some amount of foam, though the water quality is fine and I had just done a water change 4 days ago. I decided to not feed and wait.

The tank is cycled, 10 gallons, has been established since 8 months without problems.

Today, I noticed a lot of puffy white things on one side of my aquarium glass. They seem to be largest near the airstone. at first I though they were juvenile hydras, but after looking at them with my magnifying glass, the smallest things seemed to look rather like sperm ? But the bigger ones more resemble wheat grain. I did some research, but I could not find out what the hell these things are and if I need to worry.

I managed to take a pictures through my magnifying glass with my crappy camera (I think it wouldn't work.. but I got a great one!)

I caught one of the bigger ones that look like a wheat plant, and the smaller ones too.. I guess I got all the stages of this weird something in one shot.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS THIS??


----------



## Alexa (Sep 16, 2010)

come on, I got a great close up picture of this thing, and still no one can identify it??

Am I raising a new mutant species here or what


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Alexa said:


> come on, I got a great close up picture of this thing, and still no one can identify it??
> 
> Am I raising a new mutant species here or what


 welcome to the forum!

they are indeed sperm. jk lol they look to me like snail eggs. i have the same exact things in my tank. keep an eye out for tiny snails moving about in the tank


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

are they stationary or moving? What are the tank inhabitants? If they are moving around it could be cyclops.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

SinCrisis said:


> are they stationary or moving? What are the tank inhabitants? If they are moving around it could be cyclops.[/
> 
> notice the larger concentration of the "white things" in the picture? i starting seeing these in tank a week before i starting seeing a bunch of Acroloxidae snails.
> 
> that concentration of white things seem to be ocnnected my a membraneous substance that attaches the eggs to the glass


----------



## Alexa (Sep 16, 2010)

My tank houses 3 guppies (only 1 of which is adult) and 4 ghost shrimp.

I strongly doubts they are snail eggs, they are stationary, yes, but I have shrimp and no snails, and these things are literally all over my tank, at least thousands of them. If those are snail eggs, I have some pretty fruitful snails xD


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Alexa said:


> My tank houses 3 guppies (only 1 of which is adult) and 4 ghost shrimp.
> 
> I strongly doubts they are snail eggs, they are stationary, yes, but I have shrimp and no snails, and these things are literally all over my tank, at least thousands of them. If those are snail eggs, I have some pretty fruitful snails xD


 
lol well snails can appear on things brought to the aquarium. even fish! i could be wrong however, i want to know too cause i have them in my tank too.


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

huh well i guess ull find out soon... if they hatch then congrats! if they dont then they might be hydra.


----------



## Ethan243 (May 14, 2020)

I 


Alexa said:


> *Hydra? Algae? small, puffy white things on glass*
> 
> I am lost.
> 
> ...


cant find anything on the internet about them. They are defiantly not snail eggs, ive been hatching snails for years.i think it is an un-identified species of hydra or other subspecies of freshwater anemones.


----------



## Ethan243 (May 14, 2020)

Ethan243 said:


> I
> 
> cant find anything on the internet about them. They are defiantly not snail eggs, ive been hatching snails for years.i think it is an un-identified species of hydra or other subspecies of freshwater anemones.


I have them in my ecospere


----------



## Ethan243 (May 14, 2020)

Alexa said:


> My tank houses 3 guppies (only 1 of which is adult) and 4 ghost shrimp.
> 
> I strongly doubts they are snail eggs, they are stationary, yes, but I have shrimp and no snails, and these things are literally all over my tank, at least thousands of them. If those are snail eggs, I have some pretty fruitful snails xD


decosperedo the shrink when you disturb them?


----------



## Erikakrsnt (Jun 2, 2020)

Hey I have a same thing, and doesn't find any answer yet. Ppl said its not moving well I catch them move several time like retract their tentacle and I dont know what cause it. I Want to destroy them but I'm afraid its hydra, my tank is in worm medication around 3 days, using canine dewormer so It's a bit weird seing hydras?


----------



## Briibrii (Apr 6, 2021)

Alexa said:


> *Hydra? Algae? small, puffy white things on glass*
> 
> I am lost.
> 
> ...


Ciliate Zoothamnium arbuscula


----------



## Briibrii (Apr 6, 2021)

ROWDY11302010 said:


> are you a boy


No , I am a fish scientist


----------



## Briibrii (Apr 6, 2021)

Briibrii said:


> The white puffy things are ---- >>>Ciliate Zoothamnium arbuscula
> They are vermicelli and can be parasites to crayfish and shrimp but harmless to fish. Freshwater aquatic salt might help.


----------



## GopherRockfish (Apr 28, 2021)

I also have these in my tank, I tried looking this up online and am not finding it. I added some shrimp to my tank 3 weeks ago and currently have 2 with the white ring of death and I’m wondering if this could be the cause. I’m currently running prazi pro 4.5ml for 20g planted tank with puffers(doing a deworming) these things are covering my aquarium. Any advice would be appreciated.


----------



## Itz_a_fishkeeper (Jan 18, 2021)

Briibrii said:


> No , I am a fish scientist


lol this made me laugh


----------



## Tough.nut (Dec 20, 2021)

Itz_a_fishkeeper said:


> lol this made me laugh


Fish Scientist was right. Here's a video for a closer look of this organism. Now that it is identified, I wonder how can I get rid of these.

CHECK:
Zoothamnium, Wimpertierchen, Kolonie - YouTube


----------



## Tough.nut (Dec 20, 2021)

Sharing my experience. After almost 2 weeks, I finally got rid of these and just like on the other article on other fish hobby site said, these things goes away on their own. It also says that zoothamnium is harmless for shrimp but i'm not sure with this.

After further research I found out that zoothamnium is a cousin of vorticella and just like vorticella, zoothamnium also attaches themselves to the shrimp (based on experience) I don't know if they have the same effect on shrimp just like vorticella do but in my case, all my shrimp are good and well even they have zoothamnium attach to their head and nose.

During my waiting process until finally getting rid of zoothamnium in my aquarium, I actually did a few things. I don't know if those things speed up the process or whether it helps with the problem or not, i'm no an expert on this but I thought i'd share because it worked for me.

So I added carbon on my filter, injected nitrifying bacteria with the dose of 10ml for every 100liters of water, and added a few adult bladder snails. The snails helps keep the population of zoothamnium attached on the glass minimal, they also eat some that's on woods or leaf of your plant. Let the tank cycle for a week. During the cycling process, my shrimp we're on the tank and do just fine. As days progresses you will start to notice that there are less and less of them on your tank until they just completely disappear. I suggest that after you get rid of them, do a 50% water change and wash your filter cartridges just incase there are some of them lying in there that may start a new wave again. And lastly after you do a water change, inject another dose of nitrifying bacteria.


----------



## oblivionsapps (18 d ago)

Alexa said:


> *Hydra? Algae? small, puffy white things on glass* I am lost. Yesterday I noticed my water was cloudy and the surface had some amount of foam, though the water quality is fine and I had just done a water change 4 days ago. I decided to not feed and wait. The tank is cycled, 10 gallons, has been established since 8 months without problems. Today, I noticed a lot of puffy white things on one side of my aquarium glass. They seem to be largest near the airstone. at first I though they were juvenile hydras, but after looking at them with my magnifying glass, the smallest things seemed to look rather like sperm ? But the bigger ones more resemble wheat grain. I did some research, but I could not find out what the hell these things are and if I need to worry. I managed to take a pictures through my magnifying glass with my crappy camera (I think it wouldn't work.. but I got a great one!) I caught one of the bigger ones that look like a wheat plant, and the smaller ones too.. I guess I got all the stages of this weird something in one shot. WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS THIS??


 That is zoothamnium, it is not harmful to fish but it will be annoying to looo at, I would drain the tank and wipe it with hydrogen peroxide and get rid of anything that has zoothamnium on it, then fill it again. These zoothamnium most likely came from plants, fish, or decor that you bought from a pet store. Next time quarantine the plants to make sure stuff like this doesn’t get in!


----------

