What Is This?

[FishLover4+1]

hi today when i was doing a water change i noticed that there are some erm things in my tank - all over the back and side walls. i looked on the common hitchhikers thread and they look a bit like minuture clam shrimps but clear with a sort of brown wormy thing in the middle. they cant be eggs because the only other inhabitants in the tank are 4 variatus platys and some plants. also the fish in my tank have all been in another smaller tank for 4 months except one who was quarintined for 6 weeks. i havent added anything into the tank since then so i dont see how they could have got in. are they dangerous to my fish? can i leave the min? what are they?
thanks

 

[Peter C]

Picture?

 

[FishLover4+1]

i'll put on a pic tommorrow i used my sisters camera and i dont want to break it / accidently delete all her pics.

 

[FishLover4+1]

ok so here are my pics sorry they arent very good:



oh and also they are just above the water rather than in it.

 

[dude the 4th]

i'll put on a pic tommorrow i used my sisters camera and i dont want to break it / accidently delete all her pics.

Im pretty sure that they are baby snails that have just hatched. When snails are first born their shell's are clear and you can see their bodies.

 

[FishLover4+1]

theyre flat... and i have no snails.

think i'll try and catch a few and take them to my lfs.

(please excuse my bad spelling)

 

[FishBlast]

theyre flat... and i have no snails.

think i'll try and catch a few and take them to my lfs.

(please excuse my bad spelling)

Do they not look like pest snails?

These are flat, and tiny. You don't need to buy the snails for these to appear. They usually come with plants.

 

[FishLover4+1]

no the ydont look like those pics - they look more like jelly with a worm inside. i guess what i really want to know is if they could be harmful to my nearly 2cm fry, Happy.

 

[FishBlast]

no the ydont look like those pics - they look more like jelly with a worm inside. i guess what i really want to know is if they could be harmful to my nearly 2cm fry, Happy.

In your picture, they look a lot like very very young snails (that black worm being the body of the snail that comes out). They usually start out so small it's hard to tell what they really look like.
Color themes: black or reddish body with a white, round and flat shell.
These are not harmful to fry.

If, on the other hand, they look like this:

then they are Hydra, and they can eat your fry.

 

[FishLover4+1]

i think ive figured out what they are.

theyre eggs.

when i was feeding my fish about 5 mins ago i noticed an insecty thing in my tank. it had an orange body, about a mm long, and black legs about 5mm long, and white / orange wings. i talso had what looked like a black sucker / mouth, whith was pressed against the glass. i tryed to take a pic wit hmy sisters camera but it just came up as an orange blob. WHAT IS IT?? at the moment i'm scared even to reach into my tank.

 

[FishBlast]

i think ive figured out what they are.

theyre eggs.

when i was feeding my fish about 5 mins ago i noticed an insecty thing in my tank. it had an orange body, about a mm long, and black legs about 5mm long, and white / orange wings. i talso had what looked like a black sucker / mouth, whith was pressed against the glass. i tryed to take a pic wit hmy sisters camera but it just came up as an orange blob. WHAT IS IT?? at the moment i'm scared even to reach into my tank.

Maybe some kind of mosquito, or a water flea or something...

But doesn't sound related to what you've shown in the pics. Those things look a lot like my ramshorn snail babies.

 

[FishLover4+1]

i really, really, really hope they are snails.

i suppose it could have come in from outside - its quite warm at the moment so my window is always open, and my mum insists on opening the lid of my fish tank...

do you know a good website???

 

[FishLover4+1]

ahhh i think there freshwater limpets!!!! they look exactly like the picture on a website.

now those are sorted what is the insect???

 

[FishBlast]

ahhh i think there freshwater limpets!!!! they look exactly like the picture on a website.

now those are sorted what is the insect???

Odd that you'd have those oyster-like critters in your tank.
Anyway, that insect is probably not harmful to you, and it can be a snack for your fish if they like it.

 

[FishLover4+1]

well its gone so thats the end of that saga. i think the limptes will have come in on my plants like snails would. hopefully they eat dead algae as i have a lot of dead hair algae around noe ive finally treated my tank for it. note for future people having algae trouble: as well as treating leave the lights of for 4 days and when you turn them backon reduce how long theyre on for.