How To Get Rid Of Hydra?

[kris6458]

Made a post about this on the other forums, but they said this the best place to ask.

Think I got infected with Hydra from my live plants I bought. My tank has been cycling for about 7 weeks and there are zebra danio in there that are uneffected. These parasites are a filmy clear color and so tiny hard to see. They are connected to plants/glass by a stick end and then the other end is moving with the water.

Anyone know how to rid of these?

I been doing weekly water changes and scrub all my plants/glass and vacum the sand, but they seem to still come back or be in there. I cant get rid of this crap.

I hear chemicals called Fenbendazole/flubendozole or fluke tabs will work but I dont want to mess up my nearly finished cycling tank or hurt my fish.

Is it true that blue gouramies/ trichgaster will eat these?

Any advice/suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Essentially they are harmless, but if they are hydra they're pretty difficult to get rid of. Personally I would just leave them. You're likely to do more harm than good in the process of getting rid of them, and once you have other fish in the tank they will probably be eaten, or at least they will have less of a food source and should go away on their own.

 

[BigC]

Just hear this I will say it only once... Flubendazole 5% powder kills Hydra stone dead, see them melt before your very eyes and it can safely be used in fry tanks with no fatalities when used in the correct dosage. (speaking from experience)
If you were in the UK I could send you some but I'm sure you'll be able to source in the US.
Regards
BigC

 

[kris6458]

Will that chemical hurt my live plants or bacteria in my cycle stage?

Also what if I add a little bit of aquarium salt? Would that clean it up

 

[BigC]

if I add a little bit of aquarium salt? Would that clean it up

Nope.
Cant say about you Bacteria. But I have used it in fry tanks with plants & sponge filters with no visual effects to either plants or fry.
Hydra cant stand the stuff. Besides you'll only need a small amount
Here is an exerpt from an AKA journal.
http/www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleArticle.pdf
This is where I first got information on how to treat a problem I was having with Hydra which I'd unwittingly added to my Killifish fry tanks with the addition of plant material. I contacted a fellow Killifish colleague and he duly sent me some. This stuff works, even in fry tanks so it would have to be pretty mild not to kill the fry also.
Regards
BigC

 

[kris6458]

I took a leaf off one of my live plants to LFS to ask them. They said it was a weird type of algae...Right... Considering i had lights off for 3 -4 days and scrubed/water change and it keeps coming back. Didnt know algae is Filmy color with part connected and other part moving in water. Didnt want to bust out the chemicals so got a BN Pleco and keeping up on my water changes. Seems to help, but to soon to tell for sure.