Something growing in my tank. Please help identify!!

[voo]

Hi,

I'm not sure what it is but i have something that's appearing over my tank in various places. Even on the shell of one of my snails!

These white dots are appearing everywhere and are a pain to remove. Does anyone know what they are and an easy way of getting rid of them / preventing them?
Thanks

 

[Guest]

What kinda fish is in the tank? Those look alot like fish eggs.

 

[voo]

Harlequins and a few types of tetras. There's also albino catfish.
There's also some kulhi loach but these white things were there before they were put in.

I was thinking they could be eggs, but they've been there for at least 6 weeks, and more are still appearing. They're also very wide spread all over the tank, usually on wooden ornaments

 

[Guest]

Sounds to me like snails. When snails are frist hatched they look white. But if there not moving from place to place. Also snails sem to appear more on driftwood out of nowhere.

Are they moving any at all or just stayng in one place?

 

[voo]

They're not snails, i only have apple snails in the tank.

These are not moving, they're stuck onto the wood quite firmly but there's a lot of them all over the tank. They're also kinda flat. The fish arent bothered by them, i havent seen them try to eat them or anything.

i'm just hoping it's not some kind of fungus growing :/

 

[Guest]

That's all I can thing of, I've been looking in the disese and disaster area for something like them but havn't found anything that even comes close. If i found anything I'll post. Wish I could be of more help. I'm sure someone on here has either seen this are will know what it is.

 

[voo]

It's ok, thanks for your help.
I do have 2 other types of fish (in pairs), but i'm not sure what species they are :/

Also, where these white things appear in other places, there can be just one on it's own, not in a group like shown in the picture. If they were eggs is it likely there would be a bunch of them together? I'm not so familiar with egg laying fish.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Question, are they flat, or are they kind of soft? Is it something that could resemble an egg, or is it something hard like calcium deposits from hard water? They do kind of look like eggs. But what is their consistance?

 

[voo]

they're very hard and stick to the wood well.
when you say it could be calcium is that like the limescale that appears around the top water line?

These appear at the bottom of the tank. they are flattish - they have a small bump

 

[Guest]

Also, where these white things appear in other places, there can be just one on it's own, not in a group like shown in the picture. If they were eggs is it likely there would be a bunch of them together? I'm not so familiar with egg laying fish.

Not always I had a angel fish that did that a couple of times. I had thought it was supost to lay eggs in a cluster but she never did. Also some fish are egg scaters and lay eggs every where. Although they usaually lay them in the gravel.

But anyway I've been looking all over the net for a bactria or calcum deposits that may look like those and so far nothing. Everthing keeps coming back to eggs. I'm going to look up the fish you have posted and see if any lay eggs in that form.

 

[An t-iasg]

Did you recently put new live plants into your tank? Are the "dots" only a millimeter or so big? If you look closely, can you see a dark dot in the middle of a clear circle? I have similar little hard dots on my plant leaves and on the glass. Sometimes I have a lot of them, and sometimes I don't see too many. Sometimes the fish eat a few but mostly they ignore them. The little dots will move slowly - it's easiest to see on the glass. Make a note where one is, and come back 15-20 minutes later. The dot will have moved a little bit.

I did have a website that identified them but it must be bookmarked on my other computer. I'm pretty sure they are a variety of snail. If you can pick some off of the glass and squeeze it between your fingers, they feel like a small hard shell, but they are easily squished between your fingers. Sometimes I squish one and let it drop in front of the fish. Sometimes the fish eats it and sometimes they don't.

I have had these in my tank for over a year now. They don't seem to harm anything. The biggest problem is the way they look on the glass, especially if you're trying to take a picture! Whenever I do a water change, I wipe off and pick as many out as I can.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here is the best pic I could get of mine. Other than being unsightly, they don't appear to be harmful.

 

[voo]

We do live in a hard-water area so while it could be calcium, there's no sign of it in my other tank which uses the same water from the tap. That makes me think it could be more to do with eggs or some bacteria.
Would eggs have hatched by now, as it's been over 6 weeks since the first ones appeared. Whatever it is it's still spreading.
The other thing is, i had a close look, it's just a plain white/cream all over. there's no black dot on it. They dont move either. Whilst looking i noticed there's none at all on any of my plants, filter or sides of the aquarium - it's only on the wood and ornaments. I havent added any new live plants for over 6 months now.
They're starting to annoy me now cos i dont have any idea what it is, it's spreading and it's a pain to get off, especially off the driftwood. Even with a scrubbing brush they wont come off easily, i have to use a knife and scrape it off.

 

[pkillur]

Snail eggs...

I physically saw my mystery apple snail lay eggs that look exactly the same as that. I'm going to make my best guess that they're eggs from your snail. Either that, or we both have snails and both have the same weird fungus / growth that looks like eggs from a snail and no one can identify

><PK>

 

[joannde]

I thought mystery snails lay their eggs in bunches above the water line ?

 

[pkillur]

I thought mystery snails lay their eggs in bunches above the water line ?

Yes, at least in theory... I thought of something else. I have a couple MTS as well. Did you recently add any in? Perhaps one was on a fish or something? It could perhaps be baby Malaysians. After looking at this picture, that could be what we're both looking at:

(FYI, pic is from http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug, Snails, Malaysian Trumpet.htm )

 

[voo]

Apple snails do lay their eggs above the water, mine have done that in the past in a cone shape - all the eggs together. These are small white things dotted around the tank, just on ornaments. if they were snails they'd be moving and i would at least find some on the plants and side of the tank.
the other strange thing is if they were eggs, i would expect to find some on the gravel that's near to where they have been layed, but they're all stuck to the ornaments. if it's some kind of fungus i dunno how to get rid of it :/
i dont have any MTS's in any of my tanks, just apple snails.

 

[joannde]

Very strange - have you looked at it under a strong magnifying glass ? Maybe that'll help identify what it is ? Or see if someone you know has a microscope (don't laugh - I have one from my high school days)

 

[DarylF2]

I recently bought a QX5 Digital Microscope. It connects to my Mac (or to a PC) via USB. You can use it like a traditional microscope (put the specimen on a slide or in a collection dish/plate) or you can remove the microscope from the base and use it hand-held!

I've found it a LOT of fun with my aquarium critters. Its helped me to determine certain creepy crawlies as Planaria, and allowed me to have fascinating close-up views of fish and snail eggs, brine shrimp, etc..

 

[joannde]

DarylF - Ok - can I ask how much it was ? I have a funny feeling I'd just LOVE it too !