green vs white hydra

[azjenny]

So, on the first day that I see baby shrimpies, I also see hydra in my shrimp tank
They are tiny green ones, way smaller than most of the white/brown ones that I've seen. Are there differences between them and are these ones just as detrimental to my shrimp pop as the bigger ones?
I just don't know what to do about them...

[Hobbes1911]

Usually hydra are clear. Green ones just have ingested algae. We used to research them in lab and if you feed them dye you can get them in pretty much any color you want.

And yes all hydra will harm your shrimp. You can use panacur (dog dewormer) to get rid of them. You can purchase that from several pet stores or online sources. Just make sure it's pure meds and not some food dye or other additive for the dogs.

[azjenny]

Originally Posted by Hobbes1911

Usually hydra are clear. Green ones just have ingested algae. We used to research them in lab and if you feed them dye you can get them in pretty much any color you want.

And yes all hydra will harm your shrimp. You can use panacur (dog dewormer) to get rid of them. You can purchase that from several pet stores or online sources. Just make sure it's pure meds and not some food dye or other additive for the dogs.

And will this not harm newly hatched shrimp or berried shrimp? I have day old babies and I think another one or two berried...

[Hobbes1911]

I've used it and haven't seen any issues. Although, you will have to weigh hydra vs. possible medication toxicity. I think it'll be best if more experienced shrimp keepers chime in at this point.

[azjenny]

Originally Posted by Hobbes1911

I've used it and haven't seen any issues. Although, you will have to weigh hydra vs. possible medication toxicity. I think it'll be best if more experienced shrimp keepers chime in at this point.

Since reading your post I've looked up it's use in shrimp tanks, and I've seen only good reviews about it not harming berried shrimp or babies. However, if anyone here has had any negative experiences with it, I'd like to be able to consider those as well before I do it.
These are my first little CBS babies and I really don't want to hurt them with medicine, but I also don't want the Hydra to kill them. They are so tiny.

[Hobbes1911]

The hydra will make them disappear, slowly one by one ... hydra eat a lot!! And yes panacur has been used in shrimptanks for a long time (I used it in a tiger tank) and without issues.

[diwu13]

Yea I've dosed dewormer (it's super hard to dissolve in water if you get the powder form) and have had shrimp EAT the undissolved pellets until their poop turned white. No casualties at all.

However... you will kill any nerite/briggs snails you have.

[OiZO]

For what its worth I just used this to clear hydra in my sss tank. I got the 1g packets and mixed 1g into 50ml of tank water. I then added 5ml for every 10g. Killed almost all the hydra no shrimp dead. A couple days ago I noticed what I thought might be another hydra. So I dosed again and doubled the dose. No harm done to shrimp and all hydra gone.

I worked for me but that's just me. Its up to you if you want to take the risk.

[chiefroastbeef]

I've dosed a similar deworming med with the ingredient flubendazole and it worked great. No deaths that I noticed. After the treatment I placed some activated carbon in my filter to soak up any remaining medicine.

[Lifeblood]

This may seem like an odd request, but before you kill them all, do you think you could capture a few and ship them to me?

I would of course pay for the cost of shipping.

[Hobbes1911]

you can just make your own. Get a bunch of wood/stones from outside, throw them in a bucket with water without boiling it. In a couple of days/weeks you should have some growing.

[Lifeblood]

Originally Posted by Hobbes1911

you can just make your own. Get a bunch of wood/stones from outside, throw them in a bucket with water without boiling it. In a couple of days/weeks you should have some growing.

you would think it would be that easy.

[Hobbes1911]

you tried? All it took me were a couple of uncooked stones. After a while the tank was full of them. If I may ask, what are you going to use them for?

[Lifeblood]

I was going to see if I could get a bunch of them in a 1 gallon tank with some plastic decor. Feed them brine shrimp or maybe reject guppy fry.

I have always found jellyfish fascinating and have never actually seen a hydra but they look cool in pictures.

[Lifeblood]

Also there are many forms of hydra, the ones that are green actually have a symbiotic relationship with the algae as the algae produces sugars the hydra needs and in return the algae receives some minerals from the hydra.