Hydra

[freccle]

I have a tank that is exclusively for mollies, except for 2 striped talking
cat fish.
The fish all seem well and healthy but I've noticed these little wrigglies
in the tank.
It's impossible to take a photo as they are only a maximum of 2mm long so I've done my best to do a drawing. their colour is white and they seem to stick mainly to the glass or rocks, they're not really free swimming. They look a little like octopus or squid but have lots of long thin hair like"strings" for want of a better word at their back end. (At least I assume it's their back end).
The fish don't seem remotely interested in them,, either as food or anything else.
The fish are mainly fed on flake and frozen but once a week or so they get live bloodworm, occasionally brine shrimp and very very occasionally
daphnia.
My little drawing is here:
http/www.sunrise1.plus.com/wrigglies.htm
I've been advised that they are most likely to be Hydra and to eradicate them as they sting and kill smaller fish. The recommendations are Aquarisol or Fluke-Tabs but I'm in the UK and you can't get those here. I DID get some Interpet no 12 parasite treatment but am very reluctant to use this unless I'm sure it's going to work as it destroys the bacterial filter.
All the fish in this tank are home bred which makes them a little more special to me than my other 11 tanks.
Can anyone else suggest anything?

 

[fishing4exotics]

Hi freccle, someone else posted about Hydra in the newbie forum. This is what I suggested to them:

3 spot gourami will eat Hydra. So will rams horn or mystery snails. You can also try some medicine like Fluke tabs, Aquarisol copper based medicine, Flubenol (flubendazole) is very effective against hydra used at 1-2 mg/L, or Panacur (fenbendazole) a similar chemical, has also been reported as an effective control for hydra used at 2 mg/L. Note all the above medication will kill snails.

Another method is to use a 9 volt battery. Attach wires to the + and - side of the battery. Place aluminum probes on the other end of the wires. Place the probes in the water on opposite ends of the tank. After 2 hours all the Hydra in you tank should be dead. Make sure you use aluminum probes because the copper wire can leach copper in your tank.

EDIT: I forgot to add that the Hydra are probably consuming the brineshrimp, daphnia, and fry if you have any in the tank. You might try starving the Hydra by removing fry in your tank, if you have any, and stop feeding brineshrimp and daphnia untill the Hydra are gone.