Maybe Baby feather dusters?

[Deebo]

 

tiny tiny little guys that are allll over my glass. Not pods but ive been through a few ID posts and cannot id them perfectly

[Alexraptor]

Hard to tell from that picture, but my guess is Hydroids.

[thecowkid]

droids

[sublunary]

Yup, hydroids. Really common in new tanks. They sting some stuff, like snails who wander by them, but not enough to do any real damage. The population should go down naturally as the tank matures.

[Deebo]

ok so should i worry a bit? they really are all over the glass so i would assume they would be all over the rock and sand as well. I really wouldnt know how a snail could move across the glass with out hitting tons

[thecowkid]

Nope. They will be gone and a bit. The snails gotta learn one way or another.

[Deebo]

ahh tyvm for the help guys.

 

Anyone know of a good place to get some info on these little critters myself?

[Monochrome5]

Ask me I'm a marine biologist hehe.

 

What you have are hydromedusae, the mobile form of a colonial hydriod. Hard to tell the species, as they pretty much all look alike (with the main variation being in size). They stick nicely to smooth surfaces like glass. Nothing to worry about, really. Some can irritate corals just by bumping them, but they don't sting nearly hard enough to do any damage. They won't harm the snails, either.

 

To stop them from coming back simply swipe a mag cleaner across them. They're pretty terrible swimmers, so they'll get sucked into the powerhead and diced easily. They are also filter feeders, and while most tanks do have some living microfauna in them there won't be nearly enough to sustain them. They'll die off on their own. You can also help control them by searching your rock for little clear polyps. Pick em off, super glue them, whatever. They generally have multiple polyps on a single stalk (some for feeding, some to bud off medusae).

 

If you'd like more, check out the work of Dr. C.E. Mills of Washington U. He is one of the leaders in hydroids:

 

http://faculty.washington.edu/cemills/Hydromedusae.html

[malawian]

a marine biologist from charleston huh? im a philosopher with a fish fetish from columbia

[Monochrome5]

a marine biologist from charleston huh? im a philosopher with a fish fetish from columbia

 

Not from Charleston, but in Charleston. I want to make that very clear (I kind of hate it here haha). I moved here from southern England. It's nice and all, but I HATE tourists

[Deebo]

awsome thanks for the help!

 

I acually do scrub them off the glass at least once a day but they seem a little small to be diced by the powerhead. Since you brought up that they eat micro fauna, maybe i should stop with the Nanno 9 for a bit?

[Monochrome5]

awsome thanks for the help!

 

I acually do scrub them off the glass at least once a day but they seem a little small to be diced by the powerhead. Since you brought up that they eat micro fauna, maybe i should stop with the Nanno 9 for a bit?

 

As long as it won't hurt your tank you could stop dosing for a bit. Its not so much the impeller blades that dice them, but rather the strong current around the impeller. Doesn't take much to kill them. I had at least 1000+ at one point, but a bit of brushing had them down to a few dozen in a week. Just give them a bit of time. The only thing they can hurt is your patience