# Crap!



## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

Ah Crap earlier i made post that my water was full of white dust looking floaters and out of curiosity just to check if any shrimp have been sucked into my eheim filter i shine the light and see one hydra in there. i am guessing it was releasing spores into my system. today looking at my my dwarf sag i found one hydra there. so i yanked the whole leaf out but im sure it is too late as i found a small hydra on my front glass too. anyone have a solution that wont harm my 2 assassin snails and cherries? i have prego cherries and i know for a fact hydra kill shrimplets and i think i have a tank full of them now with the amount of dust like things i see in my tank. shoudl i go this route http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...planaria-hydra-elimination-shrimp-tanks.html? or has anyone had success with no planaria product on hydra?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Bummer.. but, Spixi snails are known to eat hydra. Jackson has them, among others. 

If you don't want them long term, perhaps you might borrow a few or buy a few and plan to sell them once they've taken care of the problem. They may take awhile to get rid of them all, but they pose no risk to anything as you might have with chemical controls. 

You won't necessarily want the assassins in while the Spixis deal with the hydra, because you won't want them killed until the hydras are gone.

Though I would guess it depends on numbers of hydra, to some extent, they are not likely to kill off all your shrimplets. They are certainly able to kill them if they sting one, but typically they anchor themselves to some object, then spread their tentacles to sting with. So the babies get stung when they happen too close to something the hydra are clinging to, like rock or glass. 

So far as I know, they don't just swarm all over and kill off all the babies, snickersnack. The only one I've seen in free swimming mode had the tentacles so tightly closed I thought it was a nematode. I didn't find out it was a hydra until it got to the glass, where it crawled for a bit, just like a worm would. Then it stopped, lifted part of its body off the glass and spread out it's tentacles. 

If I'm wrong and they can kill while swimming, I hope someone will enlighten me on that. 

If you can, you might want to set up up a hospital tank while the snails are at work, and put your pregnant shrimp in it, so the babies are out of harm's way.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

do i introduce the spixi now when i see no signs of adult hydra atm. or after i have a huge boom? i only saw 6 a month ago and removed five and dropped one that was on the gravel and could not find it after. i assume that was the one that found its way into my filter and started to shoot out spores from there. today i removed one hydra from my sag and the one on the glass got away. so far i only see white dust particles that may or may not be 10000000 hydra spores. question is do i get spixis now or later?

I didnt know spixi killed shrimplets? i know they kill assassin snails and ill probably have to move of sell them. 

do hydra kill fish too? bah if it wasnt for my shrimps i wouldnt be this scared of hydras


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

How much do you feed? Stop overfeeding, they'll dwindle away.

A quick solution will require you to remove the snails. Use fenbendazole, it worked pretty fast for me.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Most important thing is not to use chemicals to deal with things like this. I don't understand why people do.
Water changes will help so will the snails.

If you are interested in spixi snails I can sell you some. 
I'd put them in now and not wait until you have a hydra explosion. 

Spixis do not eat shrimplets. I think Fishfur meant out of the way as in away from the hydra.


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## splur (May 11, 2011)

Jackson said:


> Most important thing is not to use chemicals to deal with things like this. I don't understand why people do.


Cause it's fast. Nothing else was working for me and I didn't have access to spixi snails. The issue with introducing something like snails as a solution is they reproduce unless they're nerite, then you've got a snail problem. Then you need to get assassin snails or loaches.

I needed a fast solution for mine because I already had baby shrimps in my tank, and I couldn't risk hungry snails that had a taste for baby shrimps. I also had a snail problem in my tank, but the fenbendazole did nothing for that.

I would never suggest chemicals unless it's the last resort, that's why I suggested reduced feeding first, but sometimes it's gotta be done.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

splur said:


> Cause it's fast. Nothing else was working for me and I didn't have access to spixi snails. The issue with introducing something like snails as a solution is they reproduce unless they're nerite, then you've got a snail problem. Then you need to get assassin snails or loaches.
> 
> I needed a fast solution for mine because I already had baby shrimps in my tank, and I couldn't risk hungry snails that had a taste for baby shrimps. I also had a snail problem in my tank, but the fenbendazole did nothing for that.
> 
> I would never suggest chemicals unless it's the last resort, that's why I suggested reduced feeding first, but sometimes it's gotta be done.


Depends on the snail. 
Spixi snail are nothing like ram horns or physa. 
Their eggs don't hatch really fast and are extremely easy to remove. You can also sex them so reproduction won't be an issue.
So there really is no issue with introducing them.

If you can spot hydra you can for sure spot and egg cluster.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I certainly didn't mean to suggest Spixis eat shrimp, unless it is dead already. Almost any snail will eat anything dead, and shrimp will eat anything dead too. And it's true, they lay eggs, but in huge sloppy masses that are easy to see and remove and not nearly as often as ramshorns, for example. They're not going to get out of hand like ramshorns or pond types can in a short time. 

I also didn't know they would kill assassin snails, I thought it was the other way around, and the assassins would kill the Spixis ? I know Spixis will kill and eat some snails, like ramshorns, but do they actually go after Assassins too ?

When I spoke of baby shrimp being swarmed, I meant the hydra themselves, as in, I don't think they CAN swarm over baby shrimp, it's more a case of them hanging out wherever they hang, on a rock or the glass and if the shrimplets get close enough to them, then they'll get stung and that's the end of the shrimplet. 

I don't even know if the hydra can then EAT the shrimp it's killed, but somehow I doubt it. They have such tiny feeding parts, and usually prey on infusoria, I doubt they can actually consume a shrimplet. But certainly they can kill them if one wanders close enough to the tentacles.

I would not wait to see if you get a big hydra infestation. If I had one, I'd do something about it sooner rather than later.


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

I've got the same problem with Planaria. Trap is not working too well. I've vaccum, running HOB, but still pretty tough.

I have stop feeding. So far shrimps including babies are fine.

I am looking to get some Fenbendazole. Tough to find in Canada. Ebay and Amazon takes too long.

Anyone got some or know where to get some.

Thanks.


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## Ik0eS (Mar 1, 2013)

You can get a generic brand in Walmart or in Big Al's under the dog/cat medication section.


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Walmart and Big Al's don't carry any dewormer.

XRiddler, are you sure the white clouds are hydra spore and not planaria? Do you have any planaria in your tank?

Also, I am thinking of culturing Hydra just for fun. Is there anyway I can pick some up tonight?


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## Ik0eS (Mar 1, 2013)

Maybe they phase it out in that stores. Last time I find this medication called Worm Away IV for $8.93 . But now I can only find it online but different generic name and formulations. If that's the case, it might not work now.

If you can't find Febendazole, you might want to look for Mebendazole.

Or look for an ingredient called:

"Benzimidazole anthelmintic Methyl 5 benzoylbenzimidazole 2 carbamate" or similar formulations.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

I have only seen 6 Hydra but have now removed them for about 2 weeks already I have not seen any new ones yet (touchwood) but I might have planaria as I forgot to pick up after feeding my shrimps algae wafers a couple of times. So I stopped feeding them until I get a feeding tray. I feed my fish twice a day and only the amount they can consume in about 30secs 3 to 4 times. I have seen detritus worms in my substrate and small organisms that may grow out to be planaria but so far after removing the six hydra I have yet to see new spawns and hopefully it stays that way


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## Ik0eS (Mar 1, 2013)

LTPGuy said:


> ...Also, I am thinking of culturing Hydra just for fun. Is there anyway I can pick some up tonight?...


Be careful. If you accidentally put it in your aquarium or your aquarium equipment got contaminated and it multiplied *you will surely going to have major prevention*, just to get rid of them... unless you got the medication or using a syringe, squirt directly some H2O2. 

Decontaminate your equipment (soaking it using a bleach) before using it to prevent cross contamination. Of course you need to neutralize the bleach that accumulated in your equipment before using it again. This only applies for last resort.

It's a *NOT* very pleasant experience.
http://www.hydro-kosmos.de/jahresz/herbst/hm1.htm


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

xriddler said:


> I have only seen 6 Hydra but have now removed them for about 2 weeks already I have not seen any new ones yet (touchwood) but I might have planaria as I forgot to pick up after feeding my shrimps algae wafers a couple of times. So I stopped feeding them until I get a feeding tray. I feed my fish twice a day and only the amount they can consume in about 30secs 3 to 4 times. I have seen detritus worms in my substrate and small organisms that may grow out to be planaria but so far after removing the six hydra I have yet to see new spawns and hopefully it stays that way


How are your shrimps doing now?


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

atm i lost 3 visible ones. due to unknown cause but i cant count 47 shrimp in my tank at all. i only can count like 10-15 most of the time and i really dont have that many hiding spots at all so im guess they died and got eaten. im just going to sit this out and wait to see if i get shrimplets for now. i probably will set up a small neo tank 7-10g as i find them very fun to watch but no crystals as my dont have that much dedication yet  I think i read that tigers are just like neos and i can put them together would anyone know if that is true? my water parameters is about 7-8 gh and kh and 7.6 ph


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