Aquatic critter and fuzzy algae? Help identifying?

[BMBLSAD]

Hi all

I have a 6g cube with a betta, a nerite and some could-be-healthier plants.  The tanks been running for about 18 months, heated and filtered.  I do a 25-35% water change every week. 

About 4 weeks ago, this fuzzy algae started showing up (see pic).  It was easy to suck up when I did my water changes.  Then about 2 weeks ago these little aquatic critters started appearing on the glass.  They look like a tiny grain of rice (see other pic.) 

What is the algae?

What is the critter? And what do I do about it?

I just got a 14g cube, new plants, and was planning to move the better, nerite and the plants from teh 6 to the 14 - but don't want to do it if I'm just going to transfer problems from one tank to the next.

Not sure if my water parms would help, but here they are just in case.

• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 5
• GH: 7 degrees
• Phosphate: 0
• Chelated Iron: both 0 (ordered me some easy iron today!)
• Calcium: 40 (Fluval test kit)
• Magnesium: 6.1 (derived from the aquasabi calculator using GH and Ca values))
• Ca:Mg ratio: 6.6:1
• Potassium: 15 (seifert test kit)

I know just enough to be dangerous and not enough to be effective.

Thanks all!

Beth

[Griznatch]

Could be limpets, hard to tell from the image. Do they move like a snail?

[johnzhe]

Algae: Some sort of green hair algae. Aquarists don't really know how to distinguish specific types of hair algae and I'm an aquarist.

Critter: Freshwater limpet! I used to have some of them, but I think they died out when the tank was low on nutrients and the ramshorns outcompeted them. Like all "pest" snails, they will reproduce and might overpopulate. I say might because I suspect them to be the least aggressive breeders of all the pest snails (although you will still come across one or two people saying that their freshwater limpets became a nuisance). They probably came in on something you added recently? Not super harmful, in any case. They don't eat healthy plants. I don't even think they eat dead plants, they seem really picky.

[BMBLSAD]

Well - I'll be darned.  Freshwater limpets.  That's a new one for me.  I think I'll just let them be and see what happens.  As a side note, one of my favorite movies as a kid (and this was a lo-o-o-ng time ago) was the Incredible Mr. Limpet starring Don Knotts.  Except, he turned into a fish.

Thanks for the help!

Beth

[eatyourpeas]

Limpets are great! They are part of my SW cleaning crew.

Regarding the algae, has the lighting changed?

[Irene]

Is that brown diatom algae? I usually get it in brand new planted tanks where the light is too much and my plants haven't really started growing yet. Algae eaters like nerite snails and otocinclus catfish love the stuff.

[BMBLSAD]

On 10/18/2021 at 11:25 AM, eatyourpeas said:

Limpets are great! They are part of my SW cleaning crew.

Regarding the algae, has the lighting changed?

Perhaps a little.  I may have it on a little longer than I have in the past but it isn't a dramatic change - or at least I didn't think so.

On 10/18/2021 at 12:27 PM, Irene said:

Is that brown diatom algae? I usually get it in brand new planted tanks where the light is too much and my plants haven't really started growing yet. Algae eaters like nerite snails and otocinclus catfish love the stuff.

I don't think it's diatoms.  I've experienced them before and this isn't like that.  It's just fuzzy and green, like the dust balls that form under my bed 🙂 .  I do have a nerite in there but I don't know that they eat the fuzzy kind.  I'll start by reducing the light in the tank to see if I can get it under control.