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Eeew Hydra!

chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
I just noticed that I've got hydra all over the poret foam in the mattenfilter at the back of my cherry shrimp tank. Eeeew. :angry:

Any suggestions on how to get rid of hydra without harming the shrimp?
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Dude. You need to get out of there, as soon as possible.

Hydra_jpg.jpg
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Finally a truly worthy science project

Much as I like Tony's response you could add fish that will eat them. Three Spot (Blue) Gouramis are reportedly voracious consumers of Hydra which leads one to believe that most any Gourami might be similarly inclined. Paradisefish ( I have some black ones) and Mollies are also very fond of Hydra. Downside here is that they will likely munch your shrimp as well. "Pond" snails (whatever that means) are an option but hard to see them qualify as 'extirpators' since snails and hydra doubtless co-exist almost anywhere that hydra can be found.

Based on what I read I'd recommend removing the shrimp (or as many as you can catch) and turning the temperature of the water up to at least 104F (40C) for two hours. That's right - cook them. Since they're both invertebrates almost any chemical approach would wipe out both shrimp and hydra.

While others deal with more pedestrian travails like ich, flooding, fungus, suicidal hatchetfish and calamitous spills (involving almost a gallon of water) you've come up with something truly original. Impressive. I personally would be inclined to put some in a 2 1/2 gallon tank and raise them just for kicks.
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Tony said:
Dude. You need to get out of there, as soon as possible.

Hydra_jpg.jpg
Click to expand...

Can you keep one of these in a 10 Gallon tank? If so, I want one.

But really - good luck getting rid of them. I've never encountered them so I'm interested to see what it takes to rid them from your tank.
 
BevN

BevN

Members
I've used fenbendazole in very small doses.

I've had a ton of apistos and never saw them eat hydra but they will eat your shrimp.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
About the only way to get lots of hydra is to be feeding something that floats around in the water column, like baby brine shrimp or some frozen foods. Changing to a sinking pellet can make it so the hydra do not get fed.

Also when you change the water, drain the tank to leave only an inch or so of water in the tank. then treat the exposed surfaces with a cloth you dipped in a saturated salt solution (and squeezed to get rid of excess salt). The salt solution will kill the hydra. You can remove objects from the tank, like the sponge, and dip them in or pour saturated salt solution over them to kill hydra. Then rinse in water and put back in the tank. Just take care when cleaning the tank walls with a cloth not to get excess salt into the water. THe shrimp and fish can handle some salt but not excess.
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
Thank you!

Thanks for the good suggestions. I think moving as many shrimp out is a good place to start, that way I can take my time and experiment on the tank. Already have snails in the tank but I removed all of the large ones I could find about a week ago. I wonder if they were helping keep the hydra in check. Also, the increase may correspond with a recent shrimp population explosion. I've read that hydra may eat baby shrimp, but I haven't actually seen it going on in my tank either. And then there's the overfeeding, of which I'm often guilty.

Apistos...I've got some that I can move into that tank...hmmm.

I've seen hydra come and go in tanks, before. Just the occasional polyp stuck to the glass here and there but they didn't last. In this tank, though the hydra are really different looking. Still look like hydra, but they're chained together at the base in long strings rather than lone hydra all over the tank.

So, anybody know if:
a.) there are different varieties of hydra
b.) if this is more likely just a different growth pattern due to specific conditions in that tank

I've also got them all over one plant (that's how they got into the tank in the first place, I think)

Francine - is Safeguard ok with plants?
 
ddavila06

ddavila06

Members
if your taking everything out nuke it down with bleach! including the plants (but do little bleach dips on separate containerfor the plants ( no nuking!!) ...
 
Spine

Spine

Members
I've had them in two of my tanks. Both times I just added salt and they where gone within a couple days. One tank was planted and I had some shrimp(Amano) in there. I didn't lose any shrimp but that might be because they tolerate brackish water.
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
mscichlid said:
Do they look like this? Bryozoa.
Click to expand...


in general morphology (little things with a body attached to something and tentacles waving in the water) yes, but mine are stark white and only have about 5 or so tentacles. Not as pretty as the ones in your pic!

There are some loners on the bottom substrate of the tank that look like classic hydra....the rest on the foam and on the plants are in chains.

hydra 1.jpg
 
msjinkzd

msjinkzd

invert junkie
Also, asolene spixi snails will eat hydra. Unfortunately they are banned from interstate transfer so I cannot ship you any.
 
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