cyndi2022

Well….. it turned out they were hydra of some sort. Betel nut extract (planaria zero) killed them. They were taking over the back of the tank and the fish and shrimp were actively avoiding them, so I dosed the tank. All gone and the other inhabitants are much happier.

Thanks @Biotope Biologist!!! I can’t believe you studied Obelia in college and happened across my question. So, thank you for your expertise. It makes me feel so much better. And thank you for the anatomy diagram! I’m going to use it to help explain to my kids what the bryosoa are. I’ll take the identification of “aborescent Bryozoa” and name it Abby! 😀 I’m a bit confused on if it’s all one organism, cloning itself, or ones with different DNA on each strand, because it has gonads, but then if it cloning itself from the original branch, who’s it reproducing with…. I will look that up another day. Google was not my friend tonight and sent me down a rabbit hole, so I’ll save this one for later. (I ended up with a flashlight and a magnifying glass tonight, squinting at the little things, trying to get them back lit enough to see if I could see anything identifiable. Then, I saw a round one and panicked that it was going to detach and go all poisonous jellyfish on my little tetra! 🤦‍♀️ And started googling hydra removal.)

Oh boy…. I was googling, trying to figure out what kind of bryozoan they were (identifying my new pets! 😀) and found the freshwater obelia hydroza. They look awfully similar… I’m not loving the idea of having little jelly fish in my tank! I hate to bother everyone again, but what do you think?

Thanks @BiotopeBiologist!

I found more… They’ve taken over the neglected back lower corner of my tank below the filter return. All of them are on lines, strung out in even spacing like Christmas lights. I’m posting some closer pics of the ones in the back. I don’t see a shell at the base. They do look like hydra (stalks, a bulb and wispy tentacles) and you’ll see one dividing, but the original line has grown and branched around the corner and up the wall.

Hi Guppysnail! Thanks for your response! The line was white at first. I’m new to having an aquarium, so I thought it looked like a hair stuck to the glass. I looked at it a little closer, but didn’t see a hair - just a line with what looked like a little white mold on it. I google it and didn’t find anything, so I thought it may be related to the white mold that popped up on my new driftwood. The pleco and shrimp ate that, but not the line…. And now it has things growing off of it. 🤦‍♀️ I noticed the little bumps when I moved a plant yesterday - they’re on 2 walls now, both patches are in the same type of line. (One’s a much smaller line without the branches/multiple lines - the ones in the first pic - and was hiding behind some grass.) I’ll see if anyone else knows for sure. I don’t have live brine shimp (I just looked up how to hatch them - it looks like a project on its own!), so just assuming they’re hydra and trying to eliminate them looks like my best bet?

I have these litttle things growing in a line on my tank wall…. They’re about 1/4 inch tall. I think they’re hydra, but the growing in lines has me stumped and I’m hoping they’re something else. (Something friendly and beneficial would be best! 😃) Has anyone had anything like this before? Thoughts? thanks!!!!!