Hydra. Do I Need To Worry?

[cowgirluntamed]

I just noticed some little creatures on the glass of my betta tank....its Hydra!! They have the little stick body with the fingers at the end. I have one male betta and 3 nerite snails. Will these things harm them? I've read they harm shrimp and fry. And they sting. Do i need to try to get rid of them? If so, how? My betta eats everything I give him so no leftover food. I have noticed some leaves on my crypts have melted every now and then but I haven't taken them out. I think my dwarf sag is dead from having the cyanobacteria in the tank. That's gone now. I know these things are predators but the plants are the only thing I can think of that might have something to do with it. So..do I need to worry??

 

[Akasha72]

yes ... get rid. Don't know how you get rid but I know they are not good to have

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Doing more research on them and here is one thing I found.

http/freshaquarium.about.com/od/problemsolving/p/How-To-Combat-The-Aquarium-Pest-Hydra.htm


Obviously I won't be introducing other fish in this tank. (When I go to a ten gallon...maybe maybe not. Lol.) and I do not, under any circumstances, want pond snails!! Yuck!!

But....removing my betta and nerite...and turning heat up to 104°F for a couple of hours could be doable. That is....IF this method would work? And would that possibly kill the life plants??


Still doing research though but I thought that heat treatment seemed interesting.

 

[Akasha72]

I can't help you there. As already mentioned - I know very little about them I've never had them myself but I did know they can kill your fish. Hoping someone will be along soon who has some experience with them to help you with the best forms of getting rid. Good luck

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks akasha. I put that in he hopes someone might know about it. I'd rather do his than the dog dewormer method if possible...people get these alot in shrimp tanks I guess. Still researching though. Not doing anything until I'm sure what I want. Also...I'm not sure how I'd get the tank that hot! I bough a new, bigger heater...but I don't know if having two turned all the way up would work or not.

 

[Baccus]

I often get hydra in my native shrimp tank, it seems tiny newborn shrimplets are easy pickings for the hydra. When ever I notice the hydra numbers increasing again I use a length of airhose (the hose used between an air pump and airstone or air driven filter), I have bucket ready and start the hose siphoning water I then use the edge hose to scrape the hydra off the glass and suck them straight  out of the tank. Once I finish I then tip the water out in the yard for the hydra to die. Any water removed during the hydra hunt I use as part of my weekly water change routine and then proceed to refill the tank with aged/ treated water.
 
There probably are chemicals that could kill the hydra but with snails, almost anything that will kill hydra will also kill or make very sick snails.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

But what if there are Hydra hiding in my plants that I can't see though? I'm sure they don't just stick to the glass. That's kind of why I was wondering if that heat treatment would work. But I also don't want o kill my plants either. Though I've read about the dog dewormer stuff that works(though not good for snails) and also a hydrogen peroxide treatment(also taking fish and snails out) can kill them. But when I read that they left it in there for a couple days and then did 100% water change. That's just the h2o2 though. Not sure how many doses to do of the dewormer. And then I'd be wary about residue even though it is a very very miniscule amount. It shouldn't hurt the fish(supposedly) but I worry about the snails. Though I think if I did any chemical treatment I would want to remove my betta as well just to make sure.

 

[Baccus]

I have never really seen hydra on plants but they would probably shelter on plants with good shaped/ firm leaves over soft fluffy type leaves. I have seen hydra on my timber log and have given them the same treatment as the ones I see on the glass which is sucking them up and out of the tank with a length of airhose.
The kind of handy thing with hydra is that they will tend to congregate where there is good water movement in order for them to "snag" food (be it fish food particles, small fish fry, or baby shrimp) so you could introduce some type of gentle filteration (if the tank doesn't already have some) and get the hydra to move to an easy place to see them and manually remove.
 
If you really want to try a chemical control I am sure you can use No Planaria to kill of hydra this should also be snail safe since many people in the shrimp keeping world have used it with no ill effects to their shrimp or desired snails.
I have also seen mention of using pond snails to eat the hydra, but generally I would avoid adding a potential pest snail to hopefully remove something that has other control methods.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, these are so tiny I just don't I'd see them on other stuff. I may fast npmy betta for a day to see if he eats them but.....do you think these things can cause him injury? I've noticed for a bit now that sometimes he has a bump on his face. And he recently had Popeye that thankfully went away without treatment. Now he has a bump on his chin. Could they be stinging him and causing these injuries?

And yeah... no pond snails for me! I'm thankful I got rid of the ones in my 20 gallon when I had them! Anyway, I was thinking of going the fenbenzadol route possibly. Though....what about salt? I've read that can kill them too and wouldn't that be a better treatment than a harsher chemical? I can still remove my betta and snails if need be but I don't know if the salt will kill my crypts or my floating plants. And I haven't seen a dosage on how much per gallon to be able to kill the Hydra either.

 

[NickAu]

 
I am sure you can use No Planaria to kill of hydra this should also be snail safe

No Planaria is not snail safe, It WILL kill Mystery snails Nerites and even Malaysian Trumpet Snails, I know this from first hand experience.  I used it as directed in my 2 foot  tank, My Loaches are fine My Betta is fine so are the shrimp but every single Trumpet snail died along with the Planaria.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Should I try the fenbenzadol then? I also believe it isn't snail safe too. I can stick the snails in the 20 gal temporarily if I need to. I also have other containers I can stick my betta in for a bit as well. Do you know anything about a salt treatment Nick? Or the heat method? (I'm afraid with the heat method I wouldn't be able to get the tank water hot enough with just the heaters.) I may have to put hot water in bottles or something or find heat packs to get the temp that high. Might be the easiest way to go though since its only a couple of hours....what do you think I should do?

 

[NickAu]

No sorry I do not know about those methods.  I only found out No Planaria wasn't snail safe after I used it.
 

 
 No planaria kills planaria and hydra without affecting shrimp. When planaria gets in contact and absorbs No-Planaria, it will suffocate and die off quickly. Please note, that No-Planaria will kill certain snail species as well (Malaysian Trumpet Snails and Nerite Snails should be mentioned).

http/www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/genchem/157-genchem-no-planaria-50g.html

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Does this leave a film in stuff or would it be safe to put the snails back in after the water changes and activated carbon after treatment? I don't want to hurt the snails. I may just try the heat method first I think. If I can get the temperature that high anyway. I would just hope it wouldn't kill my plants. Thats what I'm afraid of on that!

 

[Baccus]

Personally I would take it as a bonus killing the Malaysain Trumpet snails

  they are the bane of my tanks and nothing I can do about them because I wont introduce any chemicals that will kill my nerites, notopala or other desired snails. Although if I get my hands on some micro crabs they may be used as snail control in a tank that only has pest species and not my desired ones.
 
Cowgirluntamed I would try the method I suggested with the airhose and sucking the hydra out it is less intrusive to the other inhabitants with no possible future harm caused by any residual chemicals. Hydra can be beaten with perserverance. Plus I always find it rather fun to go on seek and destroy missions looking for any hydra that have set up shop.    ​

 

[NickAu]

I put a mystery snail in my tank 4 weeks after I used no Planaria and it died. And yes I used carbon for 2 weeks before adding the snail.
 
 
There are a few species of fish that ravenously eat hydra including Blue Gouramis, Mollies and Paradise fish. Pond snails also feed on hydra when they are placed in the aquarium environment.
 
 

 
Personally I would take it as a bonus killing the Malaysain Trumpet snails

Trumpet snails were never a problem in my tank, You hardly ever saw them on the glass during the day, I actually deliberately introduced them to my tanks, They do more good than harm.