# Eliminating hydra in a shrimp tank - success at last!



## en7jos (Jun 7, 2020)

Another tank, another hydra outbreak! :surprise:

These ones are 2-3mm long and bright green. Seems to be about 5 of them in one corner at the front of the tank, so can hopefully get rid of them fairly easily.

Time to break out the _No Planaria_ again. This time it's in a crystal red shrimp tank so will be cautious on the dosing....
















Hydra photos gallery

The specks around them are a combination of tiny spots of algae on the glass (the glass looks crystal clean from a foot away) and dust on the magnifying glass lens (taking macro photo on phone through magnifying glass to get extra magnification given how small these are). All backlit with a bright LED torch, hence why the glass looks so filthy!


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## en7jos (Jun 7, 2020)

*Dosing of No Planaria for eliminating hydra*

The instructions on the packet say to use 1 spoonful (spoon provided in the packet) per 50 litres of water. I measured 1 level spoonsfull as being 0.75g of the powder, so that works out at:

0.75g / 50 litres = 0.015 grams per litre

The original shrimp tank I had hydra issues in is a 10 litre tank, but it has a few big rocks in it, hence I dosed the _No Planaria_ based on only 7 litres of water volume, just to make sure I didn't overdose and harm my shrimp:

0.015 x 7 = 0.105 grams per 7 litres

At this dose (as per my original post above), I noticed that the hydra had withered and fallen from the glass within an hour.

The second tank I treated today with _No Planaria_ was the same size (10 litres) but without the rocks, so 10 litres of water volume. I used the same amount of _No Planaria_ as before though (0.105 grams per 7 litres) which was therefore not as strong a dose:

0.105 grams / 10 litres = 0.011 grams per litre

This is only 70% of the dose on the packet. At this lower dose, the hydra did not wither and fall from the glass within the hour as I had noted at the full dose. But within about 2-3 hours they had started to wither and were certainly being affected. This evening, about 12 hours later, the hydra have all disappeared from the glass. So this suggests that a lower (70% of recommended) dose is still effective against hydra, but takes a little longer to work. Whilst _No Planaria_ is supposedly shrimp safe at full dose, I am happy to use a lower dose in my CRS tank and wait a couple of hours for it to work.

The recommended treatment plan to eliminate planaria is to do a 50% redose on day 2, and a 25% redose on day 3. In my first tank I only did the day 1 and 2 treatments, missing out the final dose. This time, I am just going to do the initial day 1 dose and will check in a week or two whether there are any hydra remaining. I think just one dose should be enough for eliminating hydra, so no point doing the 2nd and 3rd doses if not necessary.

Here's what my packet of _No Planaria_ looks like:


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## en7jos (Jun 7, 2020)

Next day, no hydra to be found anywhere in the tank - hooray!

So, some final thoughts and conclusions...

Dosing "No Planaria" at the recommended dose as stated on the packet (0.015 grams per litre of tank water) eliminates hydra within a hour or so.
This dose had no affect upon my red cherry shrimp, small fish (rasbora) or the many Malaysian trumpet snails in my tank (including 1-2mm babies through to 20mm or so adults).

Dosing at a lower 70% dose (0.011 grams per litre of tank water) also eliminates hydra, but takes slightly longer to work, but still within 10-12 hours.
The lower dose had no affect upon my crystal red shrimp.

So the full dose seems safe for use in a shrimp tank (as expected, phew!), but a lower dose is just as effective if you are concerned about sensitive critters.

The first "day 1 dose" is enough. There is no need to do the 2nd day (50%) or 3rd day (25%) repeat doses. Maybe this is only needed for killing planaria?

Great product, does exactly what it says, simple to use and very effective. :nerd:


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