What...ARE these?

[Squeakfish]

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u314/squeakaddict/fuzzythings.png
They currently inhabit all three of my tanks. I have no clue what they could possibly be.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u314/squeakaddict/bigfuzzy.png
This is a crypt. parva being taken over by them.
....Oh god.:1zhelp:

[EdFanatic]

could those be hydras o-o? so many lol

[247Plants]

Hydra...lots of em.

[marinkafuschia]

^ that's my vote!

[vampie]

Looks like a freshwater bryozoan of some sort.

[7itanium]

not sure... do the fish eat them?

[Jellymolly44]

They look like hydras. Gouramis love hydras.

[Squeakfish]

Are they dangerous? Neither of my gouramis touch them. How did they get there? And other concerned fishkeeping questions?

[botia]

I had some hydra in one of my tanks a little while ago but it seems as if they all just disappeared once I cut the feedings back drastically.From what I heard they can sting fish but are really only a threat to small fry etc.Mine hitchhiked in on some new plants i put in tank this is what mine looked like similar to yours but slightly different

[jackiomy]

Hmmm... those are kinda trippy.

[BoCoMo]

Get some mollies - they will go to work on them in no time (remove any shrimp first as they will go to work on them too!)

[petluvr]

Their hydra, hydra vulgaris to be exact. Cut your feedings back A LOT and they will go away.

[Squeakfish]

But I don't overfeed! I underfeed, if anything... and they are in every tank. I feed only what is necessary in every tank. Why. Are. They. Flourishing.
Ugh. I guess as long as they won't hurt my fish, I'm okay, right?

[petluvr]

They won't hurt your adult fish but they will harm fry and shrimp are also not fans of them. The only thing that I have ever heard causes them is overfeeding so maybe some research is in order:)

[srikamaraja]

They'll show up if there are any dead spots where food can accumulate and rot, as well. Overfeeding is not the only culprit, type of food fed can also have an effect. I no longer had any hydra after I stopped feeding Daphnia, Cyclops, and BBS to my planted tank for over a month.

On the other hand, that type of food is why my C. Sterbai kept breeding like nuts...

[Squeakfish]

I only feed flake, pellets, and wafers, and NEVER in that spot. These things are showing up in places where food specifically ISN'T. This is baffling.

[Kashta]

Too much food and insufficient tank maintenance is the only thing I've heard that sustain these. Try more frequent water changes and cut back as much as you can on food until they're gone. With this many of them, I'd also try siphoning them out directly, if you can.

[phi_betta_kappa]

http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Predators/hydra.htm
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/25028-green-hydra-aquarium-glass-should-i.html

when i worked in pet dept we would occasionally see these- seems like we used the fluke tabs to kill them- be careful of dosing inverts and scaleless fish!

[phi_betta_kappa]

http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleArticle.pdf

this guy recommends flubendazole- interesting article

[Squeakfish]

I'm not willing to dose my tank with any medications. I'll try manual removal of the big clusters and do big water changes.

[BoCoMo]

They may sting your adult fish and if you are thinking of adding invertebrates you are definitely going to want to rid your tank of them.

[phi_betta_kappa]

I hate adding meds to my tanks as well.

Everything I have read about these indicates they are difficult to get rid of even with meds. I would cut waaaay back on feeding if you are going to try the non-med route. If nothing else maybe they'll starve.

Good luck!

[vampie]

Am I the only one who thinks it may not be hydra? The body doesn't seem to bend the way a hydra does, and the tentacles look like they're shooting out in every direction rather than in a crown.

[noodles62]

I agree w/ the hydra....up your water changes and cut back on your feedings for a little while....

[Squeakfish]

Am I the only one who thinks it may not be hydra? The body doesn't seem to bend the way a hydra does, and the tentacles look like they're shooting out in every direction rather than in a crown.

Uh, you're right. Oh dear.
They have a kind of q-tip shaped head and the tentacles cover the head entirely. Every time I look at the picture, I get the creeps.
Also, they're white, not green or brown.

[vampie]

Now that I've taken a better look at them, I know I've seen them before, I just can't recall what it is. Frustrating!

I don't think it's a bryozoan as I originally suggested... I almost want to say it's algae.

[247Plants]

Im gonna stick with hydra. Do they retract when you touch them?

[bushwhacker]

i have to go with hydra also.. up your water changes and cut down the feeding

[srikamaraja]

There are several different species of Hydra, and their diet/living conditions can change their color. They range from brown, to white, through to green.

[Squeakfish]

They don't retract when I poke them.

[zzyzx85]

that's a lot of hydra

[gzeiger]

They look to me like they'd be at least as interesting as the fish. Quit worrying about it and get up close to the tank and watch them. Or mail me some :) I think I would enjoy those.

[Squeakfish]

I don't know if they would survive the trip.

[NeonFlux]

Ahh so these things are hydras..I caught a glimpse of a few in my tank. Thought it was algae...

[7itanium]

how do I get some? lol

I wanna make a 2.5g hydra tank now.. they are really cool looking

[Squeakfish]

They creep me out...
There's a little parade of them by my heater on my ten, and they loosely coat the filter head on my five. They've been in the five for ages, and I really don't think it's hydra for that reason, since for a long time the five had no fish in it; only plants and snails.

[Squeakfish]

Augh! I just remembered!
I made a topic over a year ago about small carnivorous plants that I had incidentally introduced into my tank! I cannot for the life of me remember what they were called, but whatever these things are, that's what the plants were. They grew from long thin vines and fed on microscopic organisms and very small fry...
That's gotta be what these are, because they look exactly the same.
....Or maybe I have both. Ugh!
Edit: Let me make it clear as to why I'm skeptical to believe this is hydra:
Every picture I've seen marks hydra as splitting from the stalk. These guys sprout as one head on one stalk and have showed no signs of ever separating from the stalk.
The tentacle things are much shorter than any picture of seen of hydra.
They don't have a crown of tentacles on top of the head, they have a smattering of tentacles all over the head.
From what I've seen, hydra grow independent of each other. This stuff grows out of a long vine. I don't know what the stuff in the ten is, but the growth in the five looks exactly the same as the stuff in the 40, and it all originates from a vine.
Sooo....there?

[vampie]

Do you mean bladderwort?

I don't have much experience with them, but I don't think they have threads on them like that or attach themselves onto other plants.

[SMinNC]

I had some hydra in one of my tanks a little while ago but it seems as if they all just disappeared once I cut the feedings back drastically.From what I heard they can sting fish but are really only a threat to small fry etc.Mine hitchhiked in on some new plants i put in tank this is what mine looked like similar to yours but slightly different
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/simplemaninnc/Hydra02.jpg

I have stuff that looks just like this, but green. They're on my plants and glass.
All I have is snails in the tank.
But I was planing on using alot of these plants on a 55g thats switching to plants.

Is the only way to get rid of them, is to starve everything(all of the snails) in the tank? Or will something(fish) eat them?

Also. What about shrimp? I've been looking fwd to some cherries.

[NeonFlux]

Just slowly cut down your feedings until they are gone

[dafferspup]

I am going to go look at my plants now. Those look creepy.

[SMinNC]

I've only been feeding around 1 algae wafer every other day already. And now I have at least a hundred snails to feed.
I suppose they can find some algae to eat. But there isn't much of that eother.

[SMinNC]

How about the gourami? I wouldn't mind having a dwarf gourami.

[NYCguppydude]

Maybe a dose of Salt?

[kjr928]

Creepy. You should make a vid and put on youtube.