little white things floating on water?? confused????

Hi, i just briefly looked at my tank this morning, and there were about 7 or 8 little white oval shaped things floating around on the top of the water.I have in here, 1 gibby plec, 1 young bristlenose, 2 guppies, 2 mollies, 2 red eyed swordtails, 3 bronze corys and 2 molly fry in a breeder (the rest died!!). I was really really confused!! They are like a few millimeters big, and have a tiny tiny tail at the end, no bigger than a mm of thread. They dont move, they just float, the mollies and guppies nip at them every so often. what are they??? please help me!!!!!!

This is just a guess, but it could be the partially developed fry of one of the live bearing fish. If the little white things are not fry, then they are some kind of introduced parasite. In any case, you should get them out of the aquarium. You didn't say what size the aquarium is or whether you checked the water chemistry. It's especially important to make sure you have no measurable ammonia. Two of the most common causes of fish tank problems are over crowding and over feeding; regular, partial water changes will help keep water conditions healthy.

If the aquarium is a new setup or if you just bought some of the fish or plants they could have brought in a disease or parasite. If it were my aquarium, I would remove the mysterious white things, do a 20 percent water change, and feed sparingly. Please let us know if any of that works, and post some pictures if you can.

I cannot do any water changes as i have a breeder with the fry in, but its a hexagonal tank, and the breeder is too long to fit onto one of the sides of the tank, so i had to fix it in the middle of the tank with elastic bands. I cannot do water changes because of this and my water needs changing. thanks for your comment, i hve removed the mysterious white things, and there seems to be no more appearing. i will keep you posted.

Let's hope you don't see any more of the mysterious white things. With regard to the water change problem, maybe you could put the fry in a jar full of water from the hex aquarium, do a 20 percent water change, reinstall the breeder, and gently put the fry back into the thing. So long as the water changes are relatively small, they probably will have no effect on the fry. Be sure the replacement water is about the same temperature as the original tank water. Another, less certain way to keep fry from becoming dinner is to put in a good amount of a bushy, floating plant like hornwort. It works for red wags so long as the aquarium is not over crowded.

yeah well, i dont really have enough room in the tank to put many more plants. i want to get it all bogwood and plants at the back, but the aqaurium has lots of fish and not alot of room. so i will have to wait until i get anouther tank!! thanks for your advice on the fry though!!

It seems like one or two aquariums are never enough, so many of us wind up with multiple tanks. In Phoenix, at least, yard sales are a good place to find bargains on used aquariums.

I cant travel all the way to america just for a used tank!!!

I thought they had yard sales and flea markets everywhere, but that was just an assumption based on few or no facts. If you feel adventurous, there is a little section in here about do it yourself aquariums.

yes but i live in england!! i am English!! i am certainly not going to travel thousands of miles to america to buy a used tank from a yard sales!! anyway, the mysterious white things have disappeared. thanks for all your information, and i have sorted out the problem.

We get some British TV on this side of the pond, and my wife likes to watch a show about flea markets (swap meets). I've never seen an aquarium in one of those TV shows, but they probably do have them at the open air markets. Then again, I've never been to the UK, so all I can do is speculate about things based on my experience here in the colonies.

One of the interesting things about this and similar internet forums is you get to communicate with people all over the world. It's amazing how different cultures perceive things and go about their day to day business.

To be honest, I do really want more tanks, but the house owner said he doesnt want any more oh well. thanks for all your advice, i will notify you if any more white things come.

Please keep in touch, and remember that some species of aquarium fish do quite well in tanks as small as five gallons.

I live in England too, and if you do get the chance to get more tanks, look on eBay. I've gotten all but one of my tanks that way. You can get some good deals. There is also a site called 'Aquarist Classifieds' and it has some good deals too, aquariums and fish. Check it out sometime if you haven't already.

johnarthur wrote:

We get some British TV on this side of the pond, and my wife likes to watch a show about flea markets (swap meets). I've never seen an aquarium in one of those TV shows, but they probably do have them at the open air markets. Then again, I've never been to the UK, so all I can do is speculate about things based on my experience here in the colonies.

One of the interesting things about this and similar internet forums is you get to communicate with people all over the world. It's amazing how different cultures perceive things and go about their day to day business.

Just a note John in regards to what you said.
I'm an American, now living in England, and you have no idea how different things can be. Until I came over I thought England was alot like America, just smaller -- but it's VERY different. You don't realise how much you miss something until you don't have it any longer either. I miss American food!!! I've been here for 2 years now and I am still learning (sitting on the left-hand side of the car still feels funny without a steering wheel!!).
But in relation to fish-keeping, people over here seem just as keen about it as people in the US.

In connection with my last job, I needed to consult a British dictionary. It shows a different way of thinking about things. The way place and time affect perception and thinking patterns is one of my favorite subjects of speculation. Of course none of that has anything to do with aquariums.