invading creature in tank

[skhdvm]

This thing my husband thinks is a bryzoan started growing in one of my tanks around the bulb of plant i brought home from local fish store... i tried scraping it off and siphoning it out but it just seemed to spread and now i have it in 2 aquariums. i have 6 habrosus cories, 12 silver tip tetras and 2 cardinal tetras and a neon blue goby as well as 5 amano shrimp and 1 remaining cherry shrimp in a 29 gallon tank. previously had several dozen neocaradina shrimp also but they have been slowly disappearing over the last several months... i am not sure if the amano shrimp are to blame or other fish in the tank are to blame but had all been together for over a year before the arrival of the bryzoan like thing... there is a fair amount of plant cover in the tank that had seem to protect the shrimpies previously. I use aquarium coop test strips and have very hard water with high alkalinity, pH about 8.4 and no ammonia or nitrite and nitrate about 25ppm and no chlorine, temp a little low around 68. Any ideas what this thing is and how i might get rid of it? i have been feeding a fair amount of brine shrimp but stopping it for weeks doesn't seem to affect it. 

please help!

Thanks, Shari

[Zenzo]

Can you take a photo of it to share on here? I find these types of organisms fascinating when they are found in freshwater tanks (like a freshwater sponge). 

[skhdvm]

Sorry, I tried to attach a couple videos but apparently they didn't load🙁.

[skhdvm]

trying to post few more photos of these creatures. they form chains with hydra like polps...

[skhdvm]

I am going to try adding videos of these creatures also...the tanks are filthy as i am afraid trying to clean it will help it spread😳!

[Guppysnail]

If you are talking about the filaments waving about those are hydra. Here is a video that will help. 

 

[Odd Duck]

Fascinating and I think your hubby may be right about them being bryzooans.  I’m not sure you really need to eliminate them for your aquarium health but I can see where they could become a pest with too many.  They can assist in filtering your water, apparently, and are actually considered a sign of a healthy ecosystem, so good job there.

Personally, if I decided to treat, I would probably try treating with peroxide first since it’s one of the safest things to do.  I only found one source that mentioned trying peroxide.  I would remove as many as I could by scraping and siphoning them away at the same time.  Then treat the tank with 3 mls of 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) per gallon of water with the filters off for 10 minutes, then back on.  Direct the peroxide at any visible organisms found.  I’ve used this dose of peroxide before, for algae, with no adverse effects except it freaks out the shrimp in the tank and they go zooming around but they seem to survive just fine.

I wasn’t able to find anything else that would safely treat a tank (everything else I found said to use chlorine).  I always disinfect my siphon, scraper, or anything else I use in an affected tank.  I would treat only my worst tank first and see how it goes.

 

[skhdvm]

Thank you for your help! I will try that this weekend 

[Torrey]

On 10/18/2021 at 11:51 PM, skhdvm said:

Thank you for your help! I will try that this weekend 

They are very, very fascinating!

I wish I had bought or built a small nano tank to transfer the green hydra into, instead of killing them all off.

They are quite beautiful to watch.

I have a dedicated pico tank for my amphopods, it's an old glass drink dispenser that I converted. Just something to think about, as a very novel vivarium that doesn't need a heater, or even a filter if you choose to use plenty of plants.... as long as you don't add nano fish, that is.