Hydra :Its back:

[Kitsune_Gem]

Sooo I noticed some hydras today in my tank.. Neon green base with light green little arm things..

I know the tetra parasite guard has dfenbendazole in it. I am hoping that will work.

Now I have several amano shrimp, several horned nerites, 2 fire red shrimp.


It says right on the parasite guard not to use on crustaceans, would they be okay in a 1 gallon with just some plants and not filter for three days? Or do I need to get a separate filter for them while I treat the tank? Or can I pull the filter from the current tank and use it on the 1 gallon, then when the third day comes, give it a good scrub and new filter pads and not have to worry about the hydras on it.

[Bananariot]

I would just go to petco or petsmart and buy fenbendazole. It's dog dewormer

[Kitsune_Gem]

Do I still have to remove my shrimp and snails for that? And I am assuming I remove the charcoal filter pads for three days then put them back in.

[Bananariot]

Nope, your shrimp should be safe. Not nerites though, so remove them if you have them. Search this forum for fenbendazole. You should find some directions there.

[Kitsune_Gem]

Can I put them in a 1 gallon with out a filter for a few days, or do I need to transfer them into another tank with a filter.

[acitydweller]

I found three hydras in my bowl the other day. Toook a napkin and wiped them off the side of the glass. Do these guys harm shrimp?

[Xforce]

Removing them by hand will help for a day or two but its impossible to clean them all and they will reproduce once again very quickly .
they can harm mature shrimps and kill shrimplets even the snails will not touch them since they can sting in a similar way to a jellyfish.
fenbendazole can do the trick you can dose even half then the amount you using to treat Planeria's infection .
If you preffered a dedicated product you can use No-Planaria or Eradica they will do the job just fine and they are totaly safe for shrimps .

[garfieldnfish]

If you use no planaria, definitely remove the snails. Whatever kills planaria and hydra also kills snails. I used no planaria and it worked wonderfully, but also killed off any MTSs I could not find. I had to do 2 complete water changes before it was almost snail safe again and that included washing the gravel. I would be very careful before re-introducing any snails back into a treated tank. I did it after the first complete water change (with gravel wash) and the traces still were potent enought to kill MTSs that I put in after the first water change. After the second complete change with gravel wash 2 survived and 2 again died. After several more normal water changes it is now snails safe again but I am reluctant to use the stuff in any of my other tanks. My trial tank is a 2.5 gal, so doing complete water changes was easy and all the plants are floating plants. My other tanks are much larger and complete water changes and gravel washing is not an option. I found that adult mystery snails waltz over hydra on the tank walls and the hydra disappears. I don't know if those snails crush them or eat them. But they are not effective on hydra on fine leafed plants.

[Aquatic Delight]

would a hydra have a round body and 4 legs?

[AaronMB]

Originally Posted by Aquatic Delight

would a hydra have a round body and 4 legs?

Indeed.

[Aquatic Delight]

ROFL i missed it when i searched, looked right over it. lol its the 4th picture. i need more coffee....

[wicca27]

oddly enough the few times i have seen hydra i just leave them alone. i never notice any lose in numbers of shrimp and some how after a couple weeks they just go poof and are gone not to return. this was the case when i got meds from liam, once med got here to rid my tank of them i have not seen them since so i still have a packet of med sitting here

[GeToChKn]

They can sit dormant for a long time as a small cyst and will be curled up and almost impossible to spot when in that state, so you could still have them. I know they can take out shrimp, when I had them before, I would see the hydra be bright red instead from eating baby CRS and my shrimp population never took off but had lots of big fat red filled hydra.

[Kitsune_Gem]

This is all very helpful info.. But it still does not tell me if my snails will be okay in a 1 gallon with water from the tank with out a filter for 3 days while I dose the thank with fenbendazole. I would do daily water changes on it.

[GeToChKn]

Originally Posted by Kitsune_Gem

This is all very helpful info.. But it still does not tell me if my snails will be okay in a 1 gallon with water from the tank with out a filter for 3 days while I dose the thank with fenbendazole. I would do daily water changes on it.

Snails will be fine like that. People ship snails with a wet paper towel and they are fine. I took out gravel from a tank, put it in a plastic bag, my roomie used it 3 months later and out came snails from gravel in a bag, no water, no food for 3 months.