EEK! Hydra

6432 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by longgonedaddy, Oct 29, 2016

shannon767

Discussion Starter · Oct 26, 2016

I noticed today that I have some hydra on the front wall of my aquarium. As I was looking at them I saw others float by.

Is Fenbendazole really safe to use? Most of the discussions I've seen about it are a couple years old.

My 20g tank has about 30 cherry shrimp, two spixi snails, one mystery snail, three nerite snails, four endlers, three glow light tetras, and two ember tetras.

Obviously, I don't want to hurt any of them, but I also don't want these things killing my baby shrimp.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Jayh619

· #2 · Oct 26, 2016 (Edited)

This is what I have been using for treating the hydra's that were in my blue dream shrimp tank.

"Hydra in shrimp tank
You can buy goat de-wormer. That is fenbendazole in liquid form, much easier to use then the pill or powdered version. It is called safe guard. 2 ml per 10 gal.
IF it is the POWDERED FORM
Just DO this. Used .1g of dewormer in a 13g tank. Only did one overnight dose followed by two large wc. Safe to say all my shrimp and snails survived. They didn't want to eat for a few days thought. And one of my females molted it's eggs.

You want .1g (100mg) per 10gallons of water.

Oh, and I use the .1g for planaria, and .05g for hydra. Bother are fine to use, but the .05 is a little gentler- but it does take an extra couple days or so to work depending on the strain of hydra.

Also, turn off your lights after dosing for the first day at least. It breaks down photochemically."

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shannon767

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 26, 2016

Thank you!

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Tessa

· #4 · Oct 26, 2016

A while ago I found a few hydra on the glass of one of my tanks. So I took a small syringe (with a needle), filled it with Flourish Excel, then squirted some straight on each hydra. They shriveled into tiny balls which the fish later cleaned up. Haven't found any hydra since.

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shannon767

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 26, 2016

Thank you, Tessa. I like that idea a lot better. I'll give that a shot.

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evil nick

· #6 · Oct 27, 2016

mollys and guppies will eat them

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Opare

· #7 · Oct 28, 2016

By the way not related to the Hydra but both your Tetras prefer larger groups so I would increase the groups of those to at least 6ish. You're understocked so I imagine you may already have that in mind.

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shannon767

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 28, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

Opare said:
By the way not related to the Hydra but both your Tetras prefer larger groups so I would increase the groups of those to at least 6ish. You're understocked so I imagine you may already have that in mind.

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Yes, I just moved everything from a three gallon into this 20g. (Most of the snails are new.). My plan is to buy 12 green neon tetras and maybe six fancy guppies. Do you think that will work out ok?

PS. This is just week six on this tank. I wanted to make sure all of my existing babies got acclimated before getting more. It's been a week and all is good, so this weekend it's happening.

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evil nick said:
mollys and guppies will eat them

Great! I'm planning on buying six fancy guppies, so that will work out perfectly. Thanks!

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Opare

· #9 · Oct 28, 2016

shannon767 said:
Yes, I just moved everything from a three gallon into this 20g. (Most of the snails are new.). My plan is to buy 12 green neon tetras and maybe six fancy guppies. Do you think that will work out ok?

PS. This is just week six on this tank. I wanted to make sure all of my existing babies got acclimated before getting more. It's been a week and all is good, so this weekend it's happening.

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I guessed it was a new tank. Well it wouldn't really work out you really should be increasing the groups of the Tetras you already have not getting new species.
So basically get more of the Embers and Glowlights minimum 6 of each, rather than getting new species.
Those 2 species like to be in big groups that's why I'm saying you should get more of them.

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GrampsGrunge

· #10 · Oct 28, 2016

Glowlight tetras are going to make snacks out of your baby shrimp, especially if it's a larger female, they actively hunt for live food. I would suspect the Ember tetras, despite their small size will also eat really young shrimp.

Tetras have teeth and prefer meaty foods.

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shannon767

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 28, 2016

GrampsGrunge said:
Glowlight tetras are going to make snacks out of your baby shrimp, especially if it's a larger female, they actively hunt for live food. I would suspect the Ember tetras, despite their small size will also eat really young shrimp.

Tetras have teeth and prefer meaty foods.

Yes, I discovered that the hard way.

I actually never intended to have baby shrimp. I bought five rcs never even thinking that they would reproduce. Boy was I wrong. These guys are berried constantly. I am conflicted because I don't want to run multiple tanks tight now, but I also don't want to provide live food. On the other hand, it is population control. I'm not sure what to do. Any advice?

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longgonedaddy

· #12 · Oct 28, 2016

shannon767 said:
Yes, I discovered that the hard way. I actually never intended to have baby shrimp. I bought five rcs never even thinking that they would reproduce. Boy was I wrong. These guys are berried constantly. I am conflicted because I don't want to run multiple tanks tight now, but I also don't want to provide live food. On the other hand, it is population control. I'm not sure what to do. Any advice?

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What's your reluctance to provide live food? I'm trying to work more into my fishes' diet. Unless you're looking to have a large population of shrimp, why do anything? You're providing your fish with both a snack, and also something to do. I wouldn't do a thing, let the adult shrimp clean your tank and reproduce, and have healthy happy fish.

Also, your spixi snails are hydra eaters. Two might not be enough if you have a large outbreak though.

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shannon767

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 28, 2016

longgonedaddy said:
What's your reluctance to provide live food? I'm trying to work more into my fishes' diet. Unless you're looking to have a large population of shrimp, why do anything? You're providing your fish with both a snack, and also something to do. I wouldn't do a thing, let the adult shrimp clean your tank and reproduce, and have healthy happy fish.

Also, your spixi snails are hydra eaters. Two might not be enough if you have a large outbreak though.

I'm just squeamish. But I pretend not to know it's happening, and everyone seems to be happy.

I have not seen either spixi pay any attention to the hydra, but maybe that's happening when I'm not looking, too. LOL

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to leave it as is and see how it goes.

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longgonedaddy

· #14 · Oct 29, 2016

shannon767 said:
I'm just squeamish. But I pretend not to know it's happening, and everyone seems to be happy.

I have not seen either spixi pay any attention to the hydra, but maybe that's happening when I'm not looking, too. LOL

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to leave it as is and see how it goes.

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Hey, at least you're honest about it! :grin2:

Well, good luck with the hydra.

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