Hydra

[JamesM]

Any tips for getting rid of hydra in a planted tank stocked with Red Cherry Shrimp?

 

[Ed Seeley]

What foods do you feed in there? I've only ever had problem with Hydra in tanks where I fed newly hatched brine shrimp regularly and cutting that out led to them disappearing.

 

[JamesM]

No brine shrimp, just pleco algae tabs and tetra flake.

They're quite big, I'm surprised I haven't noticed them sooner. I removed around 20-25 that were all around 1cm. Only thing that has changed are some recently added plants from Aaron, but they were washed beforehand, so I don't think its that.

I'm wondering if there is a certain food I can attract them with, then scoop a load of them out... ?

 

[Steve Smith]

I've not heard of hydra before, and after having a quick hunt about online it seems I have Hydra in my new setup too No fish in there yet though.

When I first saw them I assumed they were hair algae or something, though I thought they looked a bit too weird for that! I've just read that adding salt to 0.3 - 0.5ppm for up to a week and possibly increasing the temp should get rid of them. As I have no livestock in my tank I might give this a try.

Edit: You'd obviously need to take out as many shrimp as possible...

 

[beeky]

I'm wondering if there is a certain food I can attract them with, then scoop a load of them out... ?

Don't hydra just sit somewhere and wait for food to pass by? I don't think they actively hunt it down, although they can (just about) swim.

They're might be some parasitic type remedies out there that will kill them off.

 

[JamesM]

Apparently most medicines for hydra also harm shrimp. Although some people have had success with some brand of dog worming tablets I need to look into this more.

Yeah, I only noticed them when I turned the filter off to do a water change. The little buggers seem happy enough to swim around when there is no current. Didn't notice them last week though, so I'm shocked how big they are.

Another thing I noticed - when I turn the filter off my plants start pearling instantly. Turn the filter on, the pearling stops. :wacko:

 

[LondonDragon]

Just google this, and strange little critters, never seen anything like this before. Need to have a closer look in the tank to see if I spot any, are they harmfull to anything?

 

[Steve Smith]

Apparently they can eat shrimplets, and can give a bit of a sting. No idea how that would affect fish though

 

[JamesM]

Most fish will happily make a meal of hydra. Its the fry and shrimplets that are at risk. I've kept fish for over ten years, and I'd never seen them before now. But as this is my first shrimp only tank, the hydra have no natural predators. I would introduce some fish, but I have about 30 recently released shrimplets ready to be muched on .

 

[Steve Smith]

Bugger

I guess I should be OK then, having no fry going in this tank or shrimplets.