White spots on aquarium glass

[mcps95]

I've noticed some white spots appearing on the glass of my aquarium for a few weeks now. I scrape them off with an algae brush during a gravel vacuuming, but they keep coming back. They also appear to move with the water current in the tank.

I've attached a photo of them (it's the best one I could get at the time). (Disregard the white "lines" in the photo, those are just air bubbles coming from my powerhead.)

Can anyone tell me with this is or might be?

 

[Snake Eyez]

Isn't that just the beginning of some algae?

 

[vato]

Hydra infestation. Hydra is a relative to sea Anemones and traps food in a very similar fashion. They are usually in small colonies and preproduce by division. Hydra have wat appear to have little hairs in a star pattern that they use to catch prey with, an they range in coulor from white to green. These little hairs are filled with a numbing poision and can penetrate a fihes scales if they are small enough. these hydra are frusterating to get rid of. There are a few common methods: one, buy a blue(or three spot) gourami, they seem to relish these little guys. Or two, remove all the fish and raise the tempature to about 105. Add about 4 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water, but this can be harmful if there are any live plants in your tank.I have heard of other treatments, but some can be harmful to fish. If you would like me to tell you those remedies please tell me.

 

[mcps95]

Well Vato, I guess that just about confirms my selection for the next addition to the tank. I'll probably go pick up a blue (three-spot) gourami or two when I get off of work.

I've also heard that copper will help rid the tank of hydra. I still have Coppersafe from when I treated the tank for ich, and my fish seemed to tolerate it well. Any truth to this?

Does everyone else agree that this is most likely the culprit? (I'll try to find a magnifying glass to verify.)

 

[Captain_Obvious]

Copper will kill almost any invertebrate. So hydra should be killed by adding copper to the tank. I have no experience with using three spot gouramis to prey upon them, so I can't say if that is an effective treatment, but I try to avoid medications or chemical treatments in lieu of natural ecology.

 

[vato]

Captain said it and I'll repeat it. It is better to avoid chemical treatments if possible. The three spot gourami will do quite a good job of cleaning hydra up, just as long as they are not well feed in any other manner. They will graze on hydra for up to a few hours daily. If you find that a gourami cannot take care or it itself, you can use Coppersafe. But I'd give them at least a week to try and bring the hydra population down. If you notice a large drop in hydra popluation after a week, then allow the gourami(s) to continue to care for the problem.
Once the gouramis have cleared most all the parasites, take a razor or old credit card and scrape the remaining hydra off the glass.
I must admit that in my previous post I made hydra sound dangerous, but in actual reality, they are relatively harmless to fish that are about an inch and a half to two inches and upward. They are more of a pest in an aquarium. Although they can be deadly to fry that are a half inch or less.
Once they are gone, they usually don't re-occur but if they do you will have a hydra fighter in the gourami, so they won't be a problem.

here is an enlarged picture of a hydra to help you Identify the infestation.

 

[sly2kusa]

I was doing a search on this very thing - I don't have a picture to share, but a fairly new 15g tank of mine that has only just recently cycled (and has about 40 feeders in it now) has small (like smaller than an ich spot) white spots on the glass that appear to be clinging to the glass with either some sort of legs or I dunno. They are not just spots, but some sort of organism.

The tank has a boat load of Salt in it right now because I am treating an Ich problem in my main tank, and I share the Python for both. Plus I have read so much on the benefits of salt - I just began with it after the cycle had completed and the feeders went in.

I guess my question is if I don't get the Gourami(sp?) won't the salt take care of it? The funny thing is that the most salt that I have had in there just went in early today, and just before lights out on the tank is when I noticed these little guys.

 

[cyberbeer65]

DO NOT use copper or copper containing products in a fish tank.

Copper not only kills invertibrates,it also kills fish,and you can never completely get copper out of a fish tank.