water 'spider'?

[maggie_ann]

Just like the title says, tonight I noticed what appears to be small round, off white in color, about the size of a grain of regular table salt to variations of a small peice of sand, walking around on the fake plants, and especially on the back wall of the aquarium. I can't actually see legs on them, but with the way they move, it's like watching a spider take a stroll. They don't seem to be interested in the fish, and examining them with direct light and a magnifying glass, they certainly aren't hanging out on my slippery little friends. I have noticed that they don't like the front wall of the aquarium due to the high flow of the output of the filter. They can't seem to "grasp" the wall up there....maybe they are just lazy little annoyances...possibly related to my ex?

The tank is only a 10 gallon. I have a Whisper filter running on it. The tank has been set up and running since August. I haven't added any new fish to the tank. (Just went through a divorce, moved back to the city, killed a lot of fish in the beginning because I forgot city water has clorine in it - our well water I used in the tank before didn't...blah, blah, blah) The whole "community" consists of 3 baby guppies, and a slbino catfish..that's it, unless you want to count the 30-50 little water spiders I'm seeing in there! I do 20% weekly water changes. Anything else?

Can anyone tell me what this really is, if there is a way to get rid of it, etc?

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Do a google search for Hydra and see it this is your visitor!

 

[Lateral Line]

Hydra don't move about that much - if you can see these things moving but cannot see legs, then you are more likely looking at some kind of snail or flat worm, (a planarian for example).

Neither are dangerous - but planarians may indicate overfeeding.

 

[maggie_ann]

Do a google search for Hydra and see it this is your visitor!

Ok, I did the search...had to do it twice because just putting in the word 'hydra' brought me back all kinds of stuff not related to aquariums!

They could be hydra. I love those little ghost shrimps, and at one time, I did have a couple of dozen of them in there, but that was before I stripped the whole tank down, and cleaned out the whole thing. (Remember, the city water vs. well water thing? I thought I had some kind of unidentifiable disease in the tank. DUH!)

I did try scooping up a couple of them so I could get a closer look at them, but the second I get near them, they scoot off! There seem to be more of them this morning. I wish I could find a regular ole picture of them, so it would be easier to compare with what I'm seeing.

 

[maggie_ann]

Ok, I found a picture that looks like what I'm seeing. On this page, see those little dots? That's the way the back wall of the tank looks! From what I've read, and with there only being four fish in the whole tank, wouldn't it just be easier to break down the whole works...again....clean everything in hot water diluted with bleach, rinse extremely well, and start over again? These little things don't sound like they are very easy to get rid of!

**edited to add**

I just got off the phone with our local pet aquarium supply place. They had no idea what it is, and have even seen it in their own tanks. Other people have also commented and asked about the same thing. I asked if it could be hydra. They said it could be, and that they never treated for it. They always just seem to mysteriously go away on their own. They also said that they thought it was introduced into our tanks in our water supply here. That would kind of make sense because as I've already stated, I bleached out everything in that tank, rinsed it all well, and then set the whole works back up, haven't added any new fish to the tank, so where did it come from!?? :smb: