[Lady G]

I have a 37 gal moderately planted (hoping to get to heavily planted with growth) tank. Running two double sponges and a Fluval Aquaclear 70 HOB.
Stock 5 sparkling gourami,
1 baby bristlenose pleco,
3 Amano shrimp,
1 dwarf Mexican lobster,
7? Mystery snails (I've reduced my stock a lot, but they hide, so it's hard to be sure of the exact count)

I have the beginnings of a hydra outbreak. A lot of what I'm reading keeps saying that means I have great water (yay?). But they are definitely making everyone but the gourami uncomfortable.

I know mollies are a control mechanism, but I didn't really want mollies. I did not want to deal with the inevitable babies. I had intended to next add a couple of honey gourami, but I don't believe they really eat hydra.

Is biting the bullet and getting a pair or trio of mollies my best option?
Anyone have experience with honey gourami eating hydra?
Is No Planaria a good option with my stock?

And now I'm also reading the ramshorns and endlers may also eat them? I have both in my betta tank and could move them over.

 

[Griznatch]

I used Planaria Zero when I had a hydra outbreak. It was fine with my plants and shrimp and fish..

I did however, remove all my mystery and nerite snails while treating the tank. After about a month and some major water changes it still jacked up my Nerites. put them in a come-like state in a day or so, had to move them over to my 55. took almost 3 months for them to not be affected. Was no big deal for my mystery snails..

 

[Lady G]

I used Planaria Zero when I had a hydra outbreak. It was fine with my plants and shrimp and fish..

I did however, remove all my mystery and nerite snails while treating the tank. After about a month and some major water changes it still jacked up my Nerites. put them in a come-like state in a day or so, had to move them over to my 55. took almost 3 months for them to not be affected. Was no big deal for my mystery snails..

Good to know. Thank you! I don't have any nerites. So maybe my guys would be ok. I can move them into my qt tank while I treat.

I used Planaria Zero when I had a hydra outbreak. It was fine with my plants and shrimp and fish..

I did however, remove all my mystery and nerite snails while treating the tank. After about a month and some major water changes it still jacked up my Nerites. put them in a come-like state in a day or so, had to move them over to my 55. took almost 3 months for them to not be affected. Was no big deal for my mystery snails..

Do you happen to have a link for the product you used? I'm seeing some stuff on Amazon that doesn't "quite" match and want to make sure I'm looking at the right stuff.

 

[Griznatch]

Benibachi is the company that makes it. I got it mine on Amazon.

Michael @ Aquarim Breeder has a good article on cleaning up Planaria and Hydra, as well as dosing instructions for the Planaria zero. The article is called planaria and shrimps. how to remove them.

There's more than a few good posts in here for planaria, and specific uses of the product I mentioned.

My guppy babies/fry are really good pest control for small outbreaks of both of these critters as are pretty much any livebearer or gourami even. They also will eat baby shrimp, so that wasn't an option when I had Hydra.

 

[Ryan Mosby]

I had an infestation in two shrimp tanks. It started slowly in one, I tried getting them out as I saw them, but eventually it got worse. I tried to prevent cross-contamination but it got to my second tank. Then it blew up in both. I resigned myself to it, my bladder snails and ramshorns didn't do anything to them. I didn't want to take chemical action because it'd be hard to get the shrimp out first. Then one day I realized they were gone, in both tanks. I don't know if they outcompeted themselves for food or what, but I never saw them again.