# How to control Hydra in a shrimp only tank



## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

Either you sucke them with something or get a small fish that will eat them.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I had them in my shrimp tank also but now they are gone thanks to my Endlers. 

Do you have tiny little organisms swimming in that tank? ie. cyclops, worms etc? If you do then you need to kill their food source if you want to eliminate Hydra. What I did first was to buy some Endlers which right away had babies. The baby fish went into the shrimp tank where they mainly ate the cyclopses, worms and any other micro-organism that the Hydra could have fed on. While all this was going on, I was also going in manually crushing them with my fingers. I was very concerned that the hydra would eat all my baby shrimp so I dedicated much time into researching and reading anything on these damn Hydra!! Few people also suggested that Ramshorn snails eat them so a fellow member sent me over 40 at no charge. Needless to say, the entire colony of hydra are gone and have not seen them for weeks :thumbsup: .

If you do decide to put baby fish in your shrimp tank, make sure to only keep them in for a week or less until you get new ones again. These fish (endlers, guppies, swordtails etc) grow rather quickly and will start eating your shrimp. Just the other day I saw a 5 day old Endler hunting and then devouring one of my newborn shrimp. :icon_evil That’s right, the fish was only 5 days old!!!

Good luck...if you have anymore questions then let me know.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

When it comes to crushing these things don't only do it when it's comfortable for you. If you are all dressed up going out on Friday night and you see one of these pests, stick your hand in right away to crush them. I was very anal about this where anytime one was seen in the tank it would be oblitarated instantly.

Keep in mind that any chemical treatment that you throw into the tank will also kill your shrimp. Hydra are inverterbrates just like the good guys (shrimp).


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Its my office tank- and I'm always in a long sleaved suit! Damn! I hate to get wet at work. 

I think these hydra are almost big enough to eat endler babies! and I don't have anywhere to keep endlers- they'd end up angel food and I can't do that to them. 

I've heard H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) works, but I am not sure if it is shrimp safe at any level...


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

turbosaurus said:


> Its my office tank- and I'm always in a long sleaved suit! Damn! I hate to get wet at work.
> 
> I think these hydra are almost big enough to eat endler babies! and I don't have anywhere to keep endlers- they'd end up angel food and I can't do that to them.
> 
> I've heard H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) works, but I am not sure if it is shrimp safe at any level...


Gouramis eat hydra as well but they will also eat your shrimp.  

I also tried the Hydrogen Peroxide but it didn't work that well because you had to spray a large amount on each one for them to die. On the other hand, my hydrogen peroxide bottle is over 5 years old so it might not be good.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

How hard to I have to smoosh them to be sure I kill them? I don't want to crush delicate leaves if I don't have to. 

There are thousands.... they are on everything... Its the green ones, there are so many it almost looks like algae. 

Is the green kind as bad as the white ones? The white ones appear to get much bigger, where the green ones seem to stay small.. is there any difference between them or is it just the food they eat that gives them the green color? 

I think they sting my shrimp's feet. The poor creatures keep shooting across the tank when they come into contact... 

At this point maybe I will have to remove all the plants and re-do the whole damn thing after a serious H2O2 dip. I think it might be too late for manual control. 

Any other ideas before I go in and rip the whole thing up?


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

turbosaurus said:


> How hard to I have to smoosh them to be sure I kill them? I don't want to crush delicate leaves if I don't have to.
> 
> There are thousands.... they are on everything... Its the green ones, there are so many it almost looks like algae.
> 
> ...


Wow, I didn't know you had that many. You are probably better off taking out any shrimp and inverts that you plan on keeping and dosing a product called CLOUT. Check out Bigalsonline.com as they sell the product. When you dose the pills they kill all types of parasites and all inverts too.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

UUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGG 

How in the world do I get all the snails and shrimp and fry out of a densely planted tank?????


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## YuccaPatrol (Mar 2, 2006)

You can try to trap them or get them to collect in an area where you can catch them.

I have made traps out of 2-liter bottles to catch small fish that I needed to transfer. I'm sure it would work with the shrimp with some modifications.

I found the instructions here:

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/fish_trap.htm

After making one and trying it out, I no longer fool around trying to catch fast swimming small fish. Just toss some food in the trap and come back and check it until the fish I want is caught.

I didn't bother assembling the trap with the twist ties. I just stuff the top part into the bottom of the bottle and friction holds it in just fine.


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## vinnymac (Feb 28, 2005)

I've had to mechanically remove them. I usually use a siphon tube and suck them off the glass.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Guys, if I showed you pictures you wouldn't belive it. They have honestly gotten so dense they are covering everything, it looks like an algae outbreak. I have angel fry in the tank too, so they get a steady diet of micro worms and other small foods. The tank is an overgrown mess anyway, so I think it might be time to start from scratch. 

That horrifies me, BUUUUT- If I get a NEW TANK!!! That might not be such a bad idea!


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## Green_is_beautiful (Jan 31, 2006)

Well... i was just about to ask. I googled some "hydra pics" but the word hydra is just too broad and the (even only aquarium related) pics are very diverse.

So... could you post a picture ? I might not be the only one interested in seeing what a hydra infestation looks like.


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

We wish your tank all the best in the future, but I really want to see what this looks like now too.  Might as well document it before correcting it.

Since people have said ramshorns will eat them, maybe you should just get some of them and see what happens. That has to be the easiest way to go about it... you can always try something else later.

By the way, searching for "aquarium hydra" will bring a lot of results. Here's a few:

http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Predators/hydra.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/micro.htm
http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/Hydra.htm


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## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

http://shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=34


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

I HAVE ramshorn snails... As a matter of fact, they're almost as bad as the hydra! skip that, they don't eat my babies! but there are tons of them 

I've tried to get pics of them but anything beyond people and dogs I'm pretty retarded when it comes to the camera. I can't get it to focus on what I want in macro mode... Tust me when I say the green hydra looks like short green hair alge, except if you look real close all the "hairs" have little tentacles at the end and its on everything. my leaves look like they have fringe.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

HEY PEDRO! thanks a million for that site! 
I looked it up a little more and people claim to have sucess with OD on prime, so I am going to try a simple double dose, and spray it directly on the hydra with a syringe and let you know what reaction I get from the ones I hit directly and the ones that just get the plain 'ol double dose. I am afraid to go higher with the shrimp, but we'll see how it goes.. 

Thanks Paula


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## Brian A (Sep 3, 2002)

Can we get an update on this? I am curious to see if the Prime worked.


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## fishcrazee (Mar 28, 2006)

It's amazing how many different uses seachem's products have! What I know so far is Excel for algae and Prime for hydras? Seachem's line is great, all these double uses help out a lot


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

Whenever I started to see some small hydra in my shrimp tanks, I just cut back the feeding and did some more water changes. They'd just disappear on their own.


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

> Whenever I started to see some small hydra in my shrimp tanks, I just cut back the feeding and did some more water changes. They'd just disappear on their own.


What % of water do You change....?

I just discovered a Hydra yesterday, but I had no idea what it was. I removed 2 today.....

Will frequent small water changes work? ~10%?


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

Instead of 25% weekly, I changed 10% daily for awhile and watched how much I was feeding more closely. I also removed any decaying plant matter or other non-essential "crud" from the tank. The hydra was gone in about 2 weeks.


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

Cool. Thanx!


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

The prime didn't work AT ALL... ZIP, NOTHING I spot treated directly on the hydra with a syringe and NO effect 


I did cut back on feeding microworms and it helped a little. I also noticed in my office tank that many of them just dissapeared on their own, the white ones all appear to be gone, but the smaller green ones are now muntiplying, they seem to cycle like that. The green ones stay much smaller than the white, so I am not so concerned, I don't think they could catch a shrimp, even a baby


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## Brian A (Sep 3, 2002)

Well i tired the Hydrogen Peroxide last night and it seemed to work. There were about 7 "spots" int he tank where they seemed to all group together. I would spot treat one spot, wait 30 minutes, then go in after the other spot. They all pulled in their arms and after a few minutes started to float away. I hope their dead and not just moving to a new area.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Let us know if it works for you.


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## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

I use the H2O2 method and it works well. I think you will find that they have been eradicated.


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## Brian A (Sep 3, 2002)

Yes, it looked like they were all gone when i checked last night. THey might be hiding somewhere, but at least now i know of a weapon to fight them.


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