Topic: Algae? Parasite? Fungus? Unimportant nuisance? What is it?

[SSorca19]

Was looking at one of my tanks last night, and noticed all these... things... stuck to the glass.  Also noticed they are stuck to some of the plants as well.  They are small (less than 1mm) roundish, translucent/white and tethered to the glass by what appears to be a single, thread like filament.  They dont appear to move on their own, but sway with the current.  I've looked through pages and pages of algae types, read through other discussions where people have asked what these were and someone suggested hydra?  But these look nothing like the pics of hydra i've found (maybe just in the early stages?).  It doesnt look like any of the parasites I'm familiar with, so I am appealing to you nice people to tell me if you've ever seen anything like this... and how to take care of it. 

The tank is a small (1.5 gal) tetra with a single female betta and two dwarf frogs. Sand substrate. Its been up and running for over a month, and is certainly due for a water change right about now, though i havent actually tested the water.   We never acutally turn the tank light on, but its in a well lit room with indirect sunlight most of the day.  I do not see any of these things attaching to the critters themselves.  I have also not yet tried removing them manually as right now they are all stuck to the glass, and that seems a better place for something I'm unsure of than floating freely in the water column. 

If its simply an algae thing, great, i'll do some water changes and maybe toss an otto in there (was planning on getting a crew for the other tank anyway, whats one more?) for clean up duty...

Im more concerned with dealing with fungus or parasites, and how to treat them, particularly with frogs in the tank. 

Here are some pics i took just this morning, and some links to videos of the stuff so you can see how its attached and moves with the current.

IMG_0194 by Ssorca19, on Flickr

IMG_0193 by Ssorca19, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssorca19/5776695607/ video 1, showing a bunch of them
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssorca19/5776723215/ video 2, better close up.  Is blurry in the beginning, wait till about the 30 sec mark for the most clear vid segment i managed to shoot.  And I apologize for the music in the background, wasnt paying attention to the fact the radio was still on when I was shooting.

Well, any ideas?  I'd love to hear them!  Huge thanks in advance!
Shannon

[Mollielover]

I'm not sure what they are, they almost look like some sort of egg sacks.  It's probably nothing to worry about I'd just do your water changes and wipe them off the sides if you can.

[LittlePuff]

Are you running a filter? What are your ammonia and nitrites? 

[SSorca19]

sorry, meant to say it was a 1.5 gal tetra KIT, with the kit filter (air pump powered).  Nitrates are less than 20 (strip was half the pink saturation as "20", and nitrites were 0.  The PH and alkilinity are through the roof, but always are, that's just our water.  I don't have an ammonia test.

[LittlePuff]

Check ammonia.

[SSorca19]

like i said, i dont have an ammonia test.  Stopped in at my local fish store on my way home and they were out.  Again.  Sans testing the ammonia, any ideas on what this could be?

[LittlePuff]

Not really. There is no way you're done cycling in a month. We need more info.

[Essabee]

When you set up an aquarium - life happens. In the first few months various volunteer organism (mostly simple ones) will try to colonise your aquarium. Each volunteer will try to multiply and cause bloom populations. Some because of suitable conditions others because of absence of its natural predator will succeed. Identifying each such bloom is beyond the capacity of a person without special knowledge of the organism. Then there is one certainty that with time all the organisms that usually colonise an aquarium will find a way to introduce themselves into the tank and this will lead to your tank following the normal course. This does not happen in a month and sometimes not in several months. So we need to be patient and go through the routine upkeep of the tank till it settles down.

[SSorca19]

ok, well, i suppose the fact that no one said "oh yeah, thats such and such a parasite!" or "omg thats killer fungus!" This is a good thing.  Honestly doesnt bother me if its a benign tank organism, I understand that they happen.  I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that I should be treating BEFORE it became a major problem, and my fish and my frogs died.  I also happened to notice these things on the day I was about to break down the tank and transfer all the critters to our other, larger, happily cycled tank.  This tank is inconvenient and the pump is noisy, and it was only purchased to give our male betta someplace better to live, as he was always hiding from other fish in the large tank, and then getting himself stuck to the filter.  He died the day we set it up, before we even got to move him over.  We went ahead and set the tank up anyway, thinking it might be nice, but it was just extra work.  Anyway, trying to make sure they aren't parasites or fungus before transferring them.  I suppose i'll keep an eye on them for another week to see if anything crops up, just in case.

thanks for your help

[bulrush]

I've seen hydra in person in my own tanks. These are not hydra. Hydra have a central column with 4-5 branches, and that's it. These are more feathery-like, like a freshwater feather duster almost, or some filter-feeding organism. They really don't look like any type of eggs.