# Is panacur the best option to eradicate Hydra?



## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

I am wondering from the experienced folks on the best way to eradicate Hydra. From my own research it sounds like Panacur works the best. Is that the same as Flubendazole? Where can I buy this stuff? Petsmart?
How do I weigh it? I do not have a scale so how do I figure .1 gram per 10 gallons. 

I would like to try a more natural approach. Some fish like to eat the stuff but I am not going to violate my QT rules so that would mean another 20-30 days delay on my problem. Hydra's are taking over 3 out of 4 tanks right now. The only nice thing about that is I can treat 1 tank & see what happens to the system overall. 1 tank is totally free from hydra since it was not exposed to it. My aquarium plants dealer must be infested in this stuff since my last order I discovered an outbreak in my tanks. I know I should have used alum. The stuff does kill them fast but it would probably nuke my bio filter??? Under the microscope the alum killed them in seconds! 

Another approach people say is that if you keep the tank totally clean they will go away. I have a hard time with that plan since my tank is new & under stocked with many , many plants & yet I have Hydra. 

I would appreciate opinions from folks that have stayed Hydra free after infestation was treated or a plan implemented. Thanks.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

Pls post pics I hadn't seen fw hydra in any tank for twenty yrs


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Believe me, they are indeed hydra. They are common in fresh water systems. I have the common green type. I was not sure what it was myself until I looked at it at 200X. Definitely Hydra! They can be seen moving their tenicules around. I even watched it grab something. Sounds like you have mostly salt water experience.


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## jeffturneraz (Apr 28, 2014)

Hardstuff said:


> Believe me, they are indeed hydra. They are common in fresh water systems. I have the common green type. I was not sure what it was myself until I looked at it at 200X. Definitely Hydra! They can be seen moving their tenicules around. I even watched it grab something. Sounds like you have mostly salt water experience.


Not to derail...I hope someone chimes in with their preferred method to kill hydra...

But I must ask...I am very interested in getting a microscope for the sole purpose of my tanks.

Where did you get yours? I was thinking kids toy stores have them but interested in what kind you have.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

I am not an expert on microscopes. But I do know a lot more about telescopes than microscopes. That being said, I got lucky, well sorta . I bought my microscope from a doctor my wife works for used. But it has some focusing issues. I know how to work around them though. All in all, it works well enough to be very useful in the planted tanks. I paid $200 bucks or more & this thing is probably 10 years old or more. It has the double eyepiece set up. But I find it very hard to use both at the same time. It also has 4 powers & more because I can use a more powerful ocular if I want to. 

Sorry I cannot provide a name bran but there are many out there. Try looking used at first. If your still not happy do your homework. I enjoy using it. It does come in handy at times. 

I was also thinking of trying flagyl as well. Still researching that med.


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## jeffturneraz (Apr 28, 2014)

Thanks.

I recently tried "No Planaria" to kill a, still to this day, unidentified worm I had...but it didn't work.

Good luck killing those things!


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Are you sure you were dealing with Planaria? I thought I had them myself & they turned out to be detritus worms which in small numbers are good for aquariums. In large numbers they are an eye sore. A lot of folks confuse the 2. But maybe you did have Planaria. I have been lucky enough not to deal with them, yet!

What are some top picks for the OP? Sounds like Panacur but I was thinking of trying Flagyl since I have some in the house now on 1 of my tanks. It is supposed to kill parasites & anaerobic bacteria , so aerobic bacteria is what we have in our filters so it should be ok, right?


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## jeffturneraz (Apr 28, 2014)

Hardstuff said:


> Are you sure you were dealing with Planaria? I thought I had them myself & they turned out to be detritus worms which in small numbers are good for aquariums. In large numbers they are an eye sore. A lot of folks confuse the 2. But maybe you did have Planaria. I have been lucky enough not to deal with them, yet!
> 
> What are some top picks for the OP? Sounds like Panacur but I was thinking of trying Flagyl since I have some in the house now on 1 of my tanks. It is supposed to kill parasites & anaerobic bacteria , so aerobic bacteria is what we have in our filters so it should be ok, right?


I definitely did not have planaria. I was just trying No Planaria with my fingers crossed.

I researched worms for days and never could find anything close to what I had online.

Swam like nematodes in an S pattern but didn't look like them.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Sounds like detritus worms. Lots of water changes & gravel cleaning as well as keeping canister filters very clean should keep the numbers down low. My SAE algae eaters love eating them. 

I just looked at my hatchery tank tonight. I had hydra all over 1 wall. I nuked that side with peroxide, then excel. then prazi. Most fell down & rolled up into a ball. I am not sure if I just injured them or they are dying. 

In my experimental emergency planted tank which has only 10% substrate in it at the moment. I did the same thing earlier in the day minus the prezi. Plus I did a bottom water change 20%. At the moment I cannot see any thriving Hydra. Just a few that do not look good. But I am not sure where i am at with my balance since it is establishing & I am using r/o water. My Gh is probably low since I have not checked levels yet. Need to add booster. 

Now my big planted tank is doing very well, minus the hydra. I feel the said method will not work with this tank because of deeper substrate & too much area / density. Thats why I may need meds for my 55. It kills me to use meds in that tank since it looks amazing right now.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

For what its worth? I just took a specimen out of a tank an placed it on a slide. About 100X power. I then dosed an undermined amount of prazi , but highly dilute mixed with r/o water, an it appears the hydra are dead. There were 2 of them stuck together an they are not moving but it took about 30 minutes. So I would have to say prazi may be the way to go even though it is meds. They were fooling me by not moving around for awhile & than they would crunch down to a very small size than spring back up. This process did take some time but I am sure they are dead now. Probably a one time dose should work, but then they may have eggs so a re dose may be needed later on.

I know there must be some microbiologists out there cringing at killing these things but they are really unsightly in a planted tank IMO! I do feel a little guilty for killing them though. They are amazing little creatures. I feel like starting a hydra protozoan tank. 

Just thought I would post this to help others. I do wonder about how the prazi may put the tank out of balance killing beneficial protozoans. I guess in time they will come back. This is what happens if you do not qt & clean, disinfect,new plant arrivals. Hope this helps others.


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

Just so you know, even though you are going through this difficult situation, you are teaching others. I had no clue about hydra until I read this thread. Here is what I found doing a quick search. I hope this helps.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/problemsolving/p/How-To-Combat-The-Aquarium-Pest-Hydra.htm


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## chris_ranger (Mar 17, 2014)

Go to walmart, buy safe guard(fenbendazole). Comes in 3 packets. I little goes a long way. I use a pinch in my 4 gallon and they were shriveling by the next day, a teeny tiny pinch and they were gone the second. Water change %50 and done. Shrimp, fish and snails just fine.
Not sure if it was related but I did end up with a bacterial bloom afterwards.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Thanks for the input. I checked out the thread but the chems used seem way to hard on a planted tank. Yes it sounds like you used too much Flubendazole! It does work but it seems it could damage your filter bacteria if too much is used. The bloom was because you overdosed the febendazole. It usually takes 12 -24 hours to notice if it the filter was harmed. It probably put your filter back to the stone ages!

I am not taking any chances. I have used prazi before without any biological problems. So I am dosing prazi today in another tank to see what happens. But I am 95% confident it will work. A re dose may be needed at a later time to kill the eggs.

In another tank that is cycling because I upset the tank in moving the aquarium so it started a mini cycle or a full pledge new cycle . So I dosed NH4 & all the hydra were dead in hours at .5ppms. Of course we cannot do this in established tanks with fish! Just using that as an example that they are sensitive to water conditions & need good stable water.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Ok, just so I do not report false info again! I double dosed Prazi today in one tank & single dosed the other tank. Results after 4 hours, I know I am impatient. After examining a hydra sample under microscope I could clearly see hydra functioning normal after 4 hours. Like last night a dosed a concentrated dosage into the slide itself . Within minutes the hydra died. However the tank samples still seem very much alive! 

So I went ahead an double dosed that tank & left the other going at single dosage. 
Good thing I have more than one tank. I will check another specimen tonight to see if it is doing poorly or dead. If in the morning the hydra are not dead, I will switch over to fenbendazole.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

So the prazi seems a poor choice at killing the hydra. I resorted to purchasing safe-guard (Fenbenddazole) from pets mart. I dosed this morning .1 grams from the 1 gram packet. Results so far 11 hours later show some dead hydra on slides & some that look damaged but are holding on, at least for now. They seem very persistent . They appear really hard to kill. Under the microscope the tenicules seem like they are burnt off an their outer skin seems pale. They move less, the ones that are still alive. They wipe off the plants easy now an they seem almost like they are falling apart. But a fair percentage still lives on, but they seem to have been compromised for lack of a better word.
I will keep my fingers crossed & hope they are all dead in the morning. Not sure but I may re dose in a day or 2 before doing another W/C 30% an upping the dose a little more to fry the last of them. If all goes well in a day or 2 I will move on to another tank. The 2 sword tails in the tank seem to take the meds well as a side note. I hope this helps others, but this experiment is not finished yet.


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## jeffturneraz (Apr 28, 2014)

Hardstuff said:


> So the prazi seems a poor choice at killing the hydra. I resorted to purchasing safe-guard (Fenbenddazole) from pets mart. I dosed this morning .1 grams from the 1 gram packet. Results so far 11 hours later show some dead hydra on slides & some that look damaged but are holding on, at least for now. They seem very persistent . They appear really hard to kill. Under the microscope the tenicules seem like they are burnt off an their outer skin seems pale. They move less, the ones that are still alive. They wipe off the plants easy now an they seem almost like they are falling apart. But a fair percentage still lives on, but they seem to have been compromised for lack of a better word.
> I will keep my fingers crossed & hope they are all dead in the morning. Not sure but I may re dose in a day or 2 before doing another W/C 30% an upping the dose a little more to fry the last of them. If all goes well in a day or 2 I will move on to another tank. The 2 sword tails in the tank seem to take the meds well as a side note. I hope this helps others, but this experiment is not finished yet.


I'm very interested in and subscribed to this thread.

Thank you for doing the research. I have yet to encounter hydra but so far in this hobby, I feel like..if it exists, I'm going to get it eventually.

Was wishing I had a microscope with my recent worm problem so your method really has my attention. 

So in summation, you definitely have 1 person watching the progress! Ha. Prob many more but this is ( nerd alert) cool to me following along. 

Please keep the updates coming.


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## shrimpletess (Jun 1, 2014)

Are you guys dosing Fenbendazole in the water? It has the potential to kill your livestock if there's fish in the tank. It's a dewormer to be admininstered to fish ONLY via their food.
Flubendazole is the one to be dosed in water and possibly kill unwanted other pests like snails and hydra.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

I mixed the 2 up like others as well. They are confusing compounds. However it seems hard on snails & shrimp. What I have found out so far. It nuked all hydra in all tanks dosed. I should have taken my time an dosed 1 tank an wait a few days to play it safe.

So far the first tank with no fish or any live stocked shows no problems with the plants or bio filter. So far. 3 days later. The second tank I dosed 36 hours ago .1 gram in 10 gallons. Only 2 sword tails in the tank but they seem normal & all hydra look fried under the microscope! One fish that looked weak & thin before the Fenbendazole treatment actually showed more signs of wanting to eat more . The tank looks better without all the hydra in it.

I dosed a small planted tank with a mother sword & her babies & some of the babies even ate the stuff. At the time I felt nothing to worry about since I thought I bought the right stuff & some folks reported their shrimps eating it an being fine. But that was flubendazole! I feel pretty bad right now but at the moment all the babies seem to be fine. Eating normal. The female is laying on the bottom but I did scare her earlier , to long a story but she is alive. The tank already looks better. I went ahead an dosed my big planted tank .5 grams in the 55 gallon. The SAE's actually swam around more an foraged more than they have in days after the dosing so I hope all will be well. I expect all the hydra to be gone in all tanks in the morning. I will keep a close eye on the fish. I am already making water in preparation if things do not look right in any tank. 

I will probably do w/c's in all tanks in the morning since I am concerned about this. I do not have any shrimps it seems they take the hardest hits. 

I will hope for the best , its my bad for sure. I am pleased with the hydra results on a positive note.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Similar sounding meds:
FENbendazole must be FED.

FLUbendazole is dosed in the FLUid (tank water).


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## BrownCow (Jul 24, 2014)

What about fish that feed on zooplankton, like scarlet badis?


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

I really did not want to go with the fish eating hydra method. From my experience in most cases they come up short when you depend on fish to fix problems , an the problem ends up persisting. Classic case algae. Not to mention a 4 week q.T in another tank first to be fair to my current fish. I always Q.T. my fish before they go into display tank. The hydra were over running my tanks. 

All fish were fine this morning, even the 48 hour one's. I did panic an I did a small water change 13 gallons on the 55 last night but I almost wish I didn't! I Love my SAE'S to death so I was afraid I pulled a real big one. But it turns out all tanks are showing burnt looking Hydra or dead at the moment. Even the baby swords are all alive an well. The mother has really strange behavior like hanging on the bottom but she is eating some babies so I think its all natural. 

All fish in all the tanks are fine. I did not lose any fish. So I think that IMP the safe-guard de wormer could be an option if folks cannot find flub instead. I believe the folks that may have harmed fish may have gone heavy with the dose or it is limited to shrimp an snail death. I wish it killed my snails. Not one snail died as well. I feel if this stuff was really harmful to fish that I would have had problems by now, an that is not the case. But I do appreciate the concern about the med choice. 

I will post one more time on final conclusion on hydra removal an fish health using ( fenbendazole), but it may take weeks to see if the hydra come back. I do know they reproduce as the temps fall . They produce swimmers to breed with adult sperm if you will inside a different hydra. Then they lay eggs over the winter. But this is not the case . All babies sent from the parent called budding is normal but they should not live past the treatment on paper if the meds kill the parents.

I also want to say that since some folks have had trouble with their fish , shrimps, snails that you may want to rethink treatment if you feel uneasy about using Fenbendazole, then go with the recommended flubendazole instead since it is recommended from folks with more experience than me. Maybe I got lucky?


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## aqenthusiast (May 12, 2012)

Going through these discussions heard of and read on hydra for the first time and got astonished of the kind of life which can grow in our tanks. .


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

aqenthusiast said:


> Going through these discussions heard of and read on hydra for the first time and got astonished of the kind of life which can grow in our tanks. .


life will find a way

http://youtu.be/SkWeMvrNiOM


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

I actually would not mind having them in a crazy natural small pond like tank . Where the strongest survives. Watching them move their tentacles an grabbing pray or food is an interesting thing to see under a microscope. I find the micro world sometimes more interesting then the tanks themselves sometimes. 

I just do not want them in my planted tanks with fish. When they get going it looks like a new algae outbreak. I do not need any more help on that subject. I grow enough algae. I originally thought it was some kind of hair algae . But then one day I decided to take a closer look with the scope. When I saw tentacles with suction cups I new it was hydra. I always wondered about hydra. Now I do not wonder anymore. I was wondering if they came in on some dry driftwood in the form of eggs, maybe but they probably were brought in on a plant order. Next time I bring in driftwood I am going to clean it then boil it. I guess i will be doing some bleach dipping when I get my next plant order or at least alum ,but bleach would take out algae spores as well.

My fish all survived the med treatment. I moved all the baby fish tonight to another tank an they adjusted very easily to the new tank. My prize SAE's were more playful than usually. In fact first thing in the morning they came up to greet me. So I stopped worrying about them. I thought I toasted them. So again I think the fenbendazole scare is a concern , but as you can see all is well. I believe if you choose to run it, proper w/c prior an after treatment is important . Most of all do not overdose. But again, if I were to contract hydra again I would consider the flubendazole first. I will be watching to see if any new hydra appear. The hydra needs to stay away for this treatment to be effective. At the moment all I see is burnt looking stubs that fall off the plants. But who knows? time will tell.


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## shrimpletess (Jun 1, 2014)

FEndbandazole seems to have a cumulative effect and the issues from its use start weeks after its been used. I'd still not use it if one has a choice of another med.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Agreed. However, all my fish are doing well many days after treatment. I did water changes the next day rather than let it linger in the aquarium at full strength. It probably breaks down as the days go along as well. If I were to do it again looking back I would pick the flubendazole instead. So I totally agree, but I do not want to worry about a problem or situation that will probably not happen to me in my case. 

Still no sign of hydra.


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

Algaefix kills hydra in 24 hours I've personally found out


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## Method (Feb 13, 2011)

I had a bunch of hydra in my tank a couple months ago and dosed fenbendazole according to the usual instructions. Nuked all the hydra within two days with ZERO negative effects on my pygmy corys (including fry) and RCS (including berried females and shrimplets). I removed my purigen during treatment and replaced it after about a week and a 50% WC.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Case an point. I agree, seems like a good product. Some may disagree though. Some have had bad experiences with it. 

All my tanks are doing well except my holding tank but that tank was not biologically sound going into this anyway. I picked up a Nitrite spike, but all fish are doing well. performed needed water change. Doing what needs to be done. All other tanks with better filters are doing well. Hydra not present in any tank at the moment , still.


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## Lucubration (Jun 20, 2013)

Hardstuff said:


> I actually would not mind having them in a crazy natural small pond like tank . Where the strongest survives. Watching them move their tentacles an grabbing pray or food is an interesting thing to see under a microscope. I find the micro world sometimes more interesting then the tanks themselves sometimes.


I actually have started a 'natural pond' tank. The largest thing in there is a single amano shrimp, but it's also got ghost shrimp, several types of snails, including one assassin snail, amphipods, copepods... and, yes, hydra. For this reason I've had to dedicate pond tank-only equipment for it.

I've had success ending hydra infestations completely with fenbendazole in the past. I am still debating whether I want to nuke the hydra in the 'pond' tank (and risk affecting other micro-life) or leave them in contention with everything else in there. Nothing is mixing from that tank into others so it shouldn't be an issue; I'm just worried that one day I'll look in there and see a tank full of hydra and nothing else. I'm unsure if I have anything in there that will predate on them.


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## Hardstuff (Oct 13, 2012)

Very good questions. I knew there were other people out their with similar interest. But this stuff can take over any tank. I know there are fish that eat it but people do not understand how this stuff can get out of hand. My wife says her boss says they are beneficial an keep the fishes scales clean. Maybe 20lb carp, but not a 2g tetra! 

Still no sign of hydra. All fish are doing well except for problems I was having before the febendazole. My SAE's were happier cramped up in my pressurized 10g with 3 other swordtails. They are 4 inches long . There are lots of plants so they were really cramped. But ever since I put them back into my 55 high tech with an atomizer they hide a lot. This behavior was going on before the meds so I think it has nothing to do with the meds. They were in that tank before when it was dirted an were very happy. They were even happier in the little 10 that was pressurized. But the original 55 broke so I saved them an put them in the 10 pressurized with reactor.

The only difference with the CO2 is the Atomizer . I think they hate all those little bubbles. I am with them! I am making a reactor for them an plan on going back to clear water again. Those little bubbles make the tank look cloudy an deplete gas not to mention diminish the par.


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