DEATH to the HYDRA! Home » Forums » Freshwater Plants Replies: 37   Pages: 3   Most recent reply posted by: siahmk (Jan 18, 2006 2:36 AM)

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vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 13, 2003 5:36 PM Reply HYDRA! Yuck! I *hate* them! Okay. Deep breath. I got a bunch of water sprite plants at auction last Saturday, and they brough hydra. I unwittingly put the plants in the main tank, since my plant bucket outside is still in the process of de-algification, and plants wouldn't receive enough light. So. I now have hydra, and I HATE them! Ugh! Evil! Okay, yes, I *am* overreacting. I know they're not harmful except with very small fish or fry, and I keep no tiny fishlets in the main tank, unless they're intended to be food in the first place. But I have like 60 stems of Ammannia gracilis that I intended to give away or sell at auction, and now I *cant* because some DOLT gave me HYDRA in the plants he sold at auction! I swear, if I saw him right now.... So. Reccomended treatment to rid myself of them is to: A) Break down the *entire* tank, dispose of about $150 to $200 in plants, STERILIZE the ENTIRE tank, substrate, filter boxes, etc., and start over from scratch. B) Pull all the fish (and many unfindable shrimp) into QT, and heat the tank to over 110 degrees for half an hour (the plants might survive, might not). C) Use a medication called "Fenbendazole" to treat the tank. This will kill the hydra and possibly (likely) the bacteria bed. This might also kill all the shrimps. I'll have to pull as many of them as I can find into QT to do this treatment. Okay, I'm leaning toward "C". I want RID of these things! If it takes a NUKE, I'm getting RID of them!! Please, does anyone have any other ideas how to get these things GONE?? I really, really hate them. Any info, whatsoever, will be more than GREATLY appreciated. Please? Did I mention I HATE HYDRA?!

Ananda Posts: 7,034 From: Chicagoland Registered: Nov, 2001 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 13, 2003 7:14 PM Reply *IF* these are the same thing as "hydroids" that the seahorse people grouch about, head over to the forums at seahorse.org and take a gander at their experiments in killing the things with Panacur (sp).... A variation on choice (c): get some Bio-spira first. Then use it to jump-start the cycle in your tank. To help find the shrimp, pull out all the fish, first, then put some shrimp yummies in the center of the tank...wait until the shrimp go for the food and then grab 'em.

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 13, 2003 9:33 PM Reply > *IF* these are the same thing as "hydroids" that the > seahorse people grouch about, Similar, at least. > head over to the forums > at seahorse.org and take a gander at their > experiments in killing the things with Panacur > (sp).... Panacur is a proprietary name for Fenbendazole, exactly the same stuff I'm considering using. > A variation on choice (c): get some Bio-spira first. > Then use it to jump-start the cycle in your tank. Will do. > To help find the shrimp, pull out all the fish, > first, then put some shrimp yummies in the center of > the tank...wait until the shrimp go for the food and > then grab 'em. I think doing this over several days just might work out. The tank is SO heavily planted at this point (I'll post some pics, you won't believe it!) that I know it's going to take more than one shot to get all the shrimpsters. I'll be happy if I can get just the wood shrimp and my two favorite (largest) algae shrimps and the largest of the funky shrimp. I want to get them all, but I have no idea even how many there are, at this point :(. Just want my hydra to die....

smoothkdr Posts: 29 From: Registered: Dec, 2002 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 14, 2003 10:56 AM Reply hey vintage my information on this might be flawed, i just woke up and my brain isn't fully functioning yet, but it might be worth your while to buy a couple of blue gourami's if they are compatible with your current fish selection. i remember reading somewhere that blue gourami's love to eat hydras. definitely doublecheck my info if that sounds like a viable option, but if it works, it may be a cheaper, less time consuming solution to your problem. good luck, and good hydra hunting!!

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 14, 2003 1:57 PM Reply Thanks, smooth; your information is not flawed, gouramis do dine on hydra. But, unfortunately, there's no room for them in my plans for my tank. That, and with the tank so heavily planted, they'd never eradicate them totally :(. Last night, someone suggested that if I want to share plants, why not douse them in a chemical solution of some sort that is bound to kill the hydra (strong fenbendazole solution, or perhaps a salt solution)? That way, I can still give away hydra free plants. This'll work as a temporary solution while I pull out shrimp.... one by one.... day after day......

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 14, 2003 5:32 PM Reply This sucks VF. Sorry to hear you're beautiful tank has been infested. Is there anyway you can pull ALL the plants, douse them for a few days in the fenbendazole, put them in freshwater by themselves for a day, and then replant? Or do hydras live in the substrate too? BTW, how's Lazarus?

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 14, 2003 8:02 PM Reply Dunno about the hydra getting into/on the substrate, but it's plausible. However, they *do* affix themselves to the glass, to filter boxes, the rock face at the back of the tank, etc., etc., - ugh. Certainly not harmful to any of the fish that I keep/will keep in there, but again, I want to share my plants- and I HATE hydra. Lazarus seems good today. Breathing well, it seems. Looks like Trichlorfon will be another staple in my fish meds arsonal. Thanks for asking, I'll let him know folks are thinking about him ;)

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 15, 2003 1:57 AM Reply Hey, great news, folks! I talked to a friend at the PCCA meeting tonight. She has two or three planted tanks, and had hydra in them (from the same source... grr!). Anyhow, she used fenbendazole to kill the little bastiges. In one of the tanks, she has clown loaches- all were *completely* unaffected. In another tank, she has amano shrimp- also *completely* unaffected. All other fish were unaffected. Plants were unaffected. But within two hours of adding a *miniscule* amount, all the hydra shriveled up and DIED. Serves 'em right, I say. She was only running carbon on one tank; on that tank, she simply shut the filter with carbon off for like two hours. The hydra died, and she turned the filter back on. It took only an eighth of a teaspoon to treat a ~40 gallon tank, apparently. So. Fenbendazole (Panacur) it is! I'll probably do this tomorrow or Monday, maybe Tuesday. Anyone see any flaws with this? Is it just too good to be true? I'll probably still pull what shrimps I can, or at *least* my loveable little fan-handed wood shrimp. I'm getting rather attatched to him.

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 15, 2003 7:40 PM Reply Sounds good VF, but I would still try and pull all the shrimpies you can, and any other fish you are at all concerned about.

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 15, 2003 9:03 PM Reply Well, I picked up the stuff tonight. Turns out it was actually a much smaller portion than an eighth of a teaspoon that she used in the 40g; looks like even less than a sixteenth of a teaspoon. And the clown loaches and shrimps were both in the 40 gallon. They're some of the happiest shrimpies I've seen :) So hopefully this'll work out. I'll try and pull my fan-handed lovely for temporary housing in the betta tank, but I'm not concerned at all at this point. I'm going to start with a smaller portion than she used in the 40g, and work my way up as necessary. We'll see what happens!!

Graha013 Posts: 1,096 From: Florida Registered: May, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 18, 2003 7:21 PM Reply I'm a total newb when it comes to plant tanks..what in the hell is a hydra? I keep picturing a 5 headed snake...;)

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 18, 2003 7:33 PM Reply > I'm a total newb when it comes to plant tanks..what > in the hell is a hydra? I keep picturing a 5 headed > snake...;) LOLOL!! Hydra are a sort of freshwater anemone-type animal. Closely related to marine anemones, but not quite a true anemone. They're *tiny*, only 2-3mm long. They have five or six tentacles that are so thin they look like hairs. They can actually be pretty neat, I guess. But I hate them. Why? They can sting your fish. They eat tiny fish babies and sometimes fish eggs. They can multiply VERY quickly, and after a couple weeks, you may have so many hydra on your glass that it looks like a little mini-jungle. Not fun for a fish to run into, I'm sure. Ouch. If they get numerous enough, they can be all over your plants and prevent your plants from getting enough light to live. So anyhow, I don't have any tiny fish. But I do want to share my plants with people who do. I want to sell some of my plants at auction, and, if you're a moral person (unlike the source of my hydra, apparently), you don't sell plants that are covered in hydra to some poor unsuspecting sot. Expecially since you really can't see them until the plants have been in the tank a couple of days. Hydra are very, very sensitive to a horse-worming medicine called "Fenbendazole", found under a name "Panacur". I have used this to ELIMINATE (yay!) my hydra problem. Okay, so there are a couple that are struggling to hang on, but I think even they are toast. It only took maybe a miligram for the whole 72 gallon tank (filled only to about 65 gallons, though). Everything, fish, shrimp, plants, and (boo) snails, was completely unaffected - except the hydra. DIE, hydra, DIIIIE!

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 19, 2003 2:59 AM Reply For those who wish to have the details of this experience, here goes: The measuring scoop that I used was *tiny*. A *fraction* of a miligram, I think. The scoop would hold a BB perfectly, and if you cut that BB in exactly half, that is the volume of this spoon. Tiny. Five scoops equals about 1/20 of a teaspoon. Just a rough estimate with what I had on hand to figure with. My aquarium is a 72g bowfront, filled to three inches from the top (I keep african butterflies). It is very, very heavily planted. The inhabitants at the time of treatment were several shrimp - ghost, algae, rainbow, and wood shrimp; an L-260, queen of arabesque pleco; one Pantodon buchholzi, one small male mosquitofish (refugee food), and four to six mosquitofish fry of approximately 2 weeks of age. The plants: Ammannia gracilis Anubias barteri var. barteri Echinodorus blehri Cabomba caroliniana Cabomba piahuyensis Rotala macrandra Hygrophila polysperma var. "sunset" Aponogeton ulvaceous Nymphaea lotus var. "rubra" Microsorium pteropus Microsorium pteropus var. "Windelov" Vesicularia dubyana Riccia fluittans Lemna sp. Salvinia sp. Ceratopteris sp. The last three I have decided are "weeds" and will be eliminated from the tank, and sacrificed to the goldfish gods out in the pond. All inhabitants, plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates (including snails & snail eggs), were *completely* unharmed. The only creature affected appears to be the hydra. I added scoops one by one or two by two until I reached eight (possibly ten; I lost count, sorry). This was done over the course of probably ten hours. I have a feeling it may have required only four or five scoops. During this time, I was able to observe the hydra retract their tentacles or collapse into their stalks with only their tentacles visible. That night, all but two or three visible on the front glass were affected in this manner. The next morning, all appeared very very shrunken, limp and dead, except the two or three toughies from the night before, which were now to the collapsed trunk/retracted tentacles stage. By that night, all visible hydra were dead. Absolutely no livestock or plantlife were affected that I can tell at this point.

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 20, 2003 8:48 PM Reply Congrats VF! Glad to hear that the mighty battle was won. Is this treatment going to cause an ammonia spike? Or kill your bacteria bed (which would lead to the above question)? Are you worried about the fish munching on the dead hydra?

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: DEATH to the HYDRA! Posted: Jun 20, 2003 9:04 PM Reply > Congrats VF! Glad to hear that the mighty battle was > won. Thanks :) > Is this treatment going to cause an ammonia spike? Hasn't so far. And it's been what, four or five days, now? I think it's all good. With the plantload I have, they might suck it up before I see it. I am concerned that all the dead hydra might show some fluxuations, but I don't think it will be significant. > Or > kill your bacteria bed (which would lead to the above > question)? So far, so good. > Are you worried about the fish munching on > the dead hydra? Not really. With Laz back in QT, I don't think anyone in the tank will munch them at all. And if they do, more power to them; I understand gourami think of hydra as a tasty snack ;)

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