White growth on glass

[TonyF]

Started getting a white growth on glass/acrylic of aquarium about 2 weeks ago. It isn't easy to see unless you look at from the side. It is stuck to the glass but is waving in the current.

After cleaning the glass it does slowly come back within a few hours and eventually covers most of glass.

The image is very zoomed in and looking down the side of the glass.

Any thoughts on what it may be? 

Searching brings up Hydra, but images don't seem to match this.

Tank Details: 3 month old 90G Tall, planted, community with Discus 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I have a little bit of Hydra in one of my tanks, so I snapped a picture for you to compare to what you see in yours:

 

This is in a Blackwater tank and on a black background, but you can clearly see the tentacles on them. Do you feed very small foods? Like crushed up flakes, baby brine shrimp, etc. 

Also, when you clean it off, does it come back exactly as it was, or does it get more dense?

Edited December 17, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

It almost looks like fungus growing on something. Hm.

Snap some more pictures of you can. If the hydra hasn't eaten algae yet it will be non-green at first.

On 12/16/2023 at 3:23 PM, TonyF said:

Tank Details: 3 month old 90G Tall, planted, community with Discus 

Any recent changes, all equipment working and cleaned?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/16/2023 at 6:23 PM, TonyF said:

Searching brings up Hydra, but images don't seem to match this.

Try using the magnifier app. Hydra look like the claw from the arcade game where you can win a stuffed toy.

The behavior you describe sounds very much like hydra. Also hydra gets a bad rap but I’ve had it and never had any issue with it, not even with little shrimps in the tank. Mine turned green because it ate algae and the green powdery food I was adding to the tank.

[Guppysnail]

I get this or something similar occasionally on newer tanks. Not sure what it is I always guessed it’s just bacterial colonies establishing but it never hurt anything. As the tank settles in it stops. I just wipe it off each week until it stops. 
 

 

[TonyF]

On 12/16/2023 at 10:55 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Do you feed very small foods? Like crushed up flakes, baby brine shrimp, etc. 

Also, when you clean it off, does it come back exactly as it was, or does it get more dense?

I feed live brine shrimp twice a week. Nothing else that small.

Yes, when I clean it off it does come back exactly, smaller groups initially, then it continues to spread.

[TonyF]

Ok here is a straight on shot, cropped and enhanced.

Maybe Hydra not fully developed yet?

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 12/17/2023 at 12:08 PM, TonyF said:

I feed live brine shrimp twice a week. Nothing else that small.

Yes, when I clean it off it does come back exactly, smaller groups initially, then it continues to spread.

Word. I’ve only ever had Hydra in tanks that I feed very small foods. 
 

The reason I asked if it comes back more dense is because if you break a Hydra, it will come back as 2 of them. 
 

I’m not quite sure what it is. If it is Hydra, I’ve beaten it with meds, and I’ve also manually removed it with a siphon. My thought behind the siphon is that even if I break it, the siphon should suck up both pieces and not leave me with twice as much. 

[nabokovfan87]

Weird. Looks almost more like worms.

(Not that at all from the side view)

I'm thinking bacterial or fungal.

[TonyF]

Just a follow up on this - it is algae.

If I wait long enough before cleaning it turns green.