Weird orange & white stuff and something swimming in my tank!!

[ThisFish]

Today I was cleaning the tank and as has happened for the past few weeks a bunch of white stuff flew off the sand and hides I have in my tank. The tubing connecting my air pump to sponge filter that was submerged had bright orange stuff on it. I was whipping the orange off and syphoning the white stuff when I saw something other than my axolotl moving. It was a tiny tiny translucent fish. I called my dad over and he said. "Hm.. It looks like a brine shrimp." He is not very experienced with fish but has had sea monkeys before witch he compared the little fish to. I did have zebra danios in my tank before but those have been gone for weeks and where only used to cycle the tank. Did the little thing get in from the frozen bloodworms I feed my axie? My axolotl does not appear to be bothered at all but I certainly am. Please help!!

 

[auntiejude]

Have you got some pictures?

The orange 'stuff' sounds like bacterial slime - kind of pinky-orange usually. Just wipe it off.

The little 'fish' could be a fish, nematode, planaria worm - until we can see we can't tell.

 

[LSuzuki]

If it is a fish, it is most-likely a zebra danio. They spawn readily and have very small eggs. Sponge filters are perfect for "fry" tanks.

 

[ThisFish]

If it is a fish, it is most-likely a zebra danio. They spawn readily and have very small eggs. Sponge filters are perfect for "fry" tanks.

Should I be doing something about it?

 

[LSuzuki]

Only if you feel sorry for it and have room elsewhere to keep a baby danio (or 2 or three). It will either die from lack of suitable food when it gets bigger, or get big enough to become a snack.

 

[ThisFish]

Only if you feel sorry for it and have room elsewhere to keep a baby danio (or 2 or three). It will either die from lack of suitable food when it gets bigger, or get big enough to become a snack.

Any ideas on how to catch it? It is really tiny. I may be able to find a super fine net, is that the best way? Also how do I feed/keep it? I can buy a little tank raise it and sell it to a local fish store. What do I feed it? I currently have little tropical fish pellet food and goldfish flakes.
Also what size tank? Can I just change some of the water every few days instead of having a filter?

 

[LSuzuki]

By the time you get done buying supplies to care for it, you will have used up any store credit you would get for it (or them). But I find it educational to raise things from eggs, and if you feel the same, go for it!

If it has gotten big enough (it has been eating microorganism from the tank), you can feed it fresh-hatched baby brine shrimp (bbs). Experience hatching bbs will help you out if you ever decide to raise axolotls from eggs. You would need only a very tiny quantity of bbs at first, since you only have 1 (or a small number) of fry. You might be able to feed it very finely ground pellets or flakes (powder-like) instead, but I'm not sure how well that will work.

To catch it, your best bet is to scoop it up with a container. A net may damage it.

Yes, you could just change the water instead of having a filter.You may need to change the water more often than that, though, unless you are very careful with the amount of food you put in. You can use a fairly small tank or container, as long as you change the water often enough. With smaller containers, the easy way to do a water change is to just carefully pour water into another container, then pour that container out (once you are sure the fish isn't in there). Or if the fish is zippy and keeps ending up in the other container :happy:, pour the first container out.