Will small gouramis eat hydra?

Altum · Post by **Altum** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:54 am

I'm bummed. I've got hydra in the shrimp tank. It seems that all the common hydra treatments poison shrimp. I've read all the older posts and people say Trichogaster gouramis eat them. One poster said any Asian anabantid. Has anyone tried some of the smaller (hopefully more shrimp-friendly) anabantids like honey, licorice, or sparkling gouramis?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:31 pm

I saw a post, I think it was here that said to take out the shrimp and plants for a day or two and raise the water temp to 110 degrees F. You'll need to treat the plants to kill the hydra. This sounds like a last resort.

I've also seen posts that the 3 spot gourami eats them as well as planaria. No personal experience. I think the fish would eat shrimp haster than they hydra. I had something I thought was colonial hydra, but they completely vanished when I put in apple snails and MTS .

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:45 pm

I put red ramshorn snails in my tank, and they took care of the hydra. For the ones I could see, I would squirt them with hydrogen peroxide with an eye dropper, then suck them up into the eye dropper and throw them out. It worked (I think) because the tank was newly set up and there weren't many hydra.

prawnman88 · Post by **prawnman88** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 9:56 am

im still new to this hydra are they some sort of parasite ?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 12:10 pm

They are predators of small things and are sort of like a jellyfish.

They sting their prey with poison barbs on their tenticles, then pull them into their gut to digest. They are pretty small but could be big trouble for baby fish and shrimp. Once you have an infestation and enough food, they can take over a tank.

There are also colonial varieties that looks sort of like a white coating with millions of tiny tenticles sticking out. You need magnification to see them in any detail. This is what I had and I'm pretty sure the apple snails or MTS took care of them as I put them both in around the same time and within a week they were gone.

prawnman88 · Post by **prawnman88** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:01 pm

holly crap how do u get those in a tank ?

demented_lullaby · Post by **demented_lullaby** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:11 am

Every water parasite like Planaria, nematodes and hydra all stem from over feeding. These hydra will attack and eat fry and juvenile shrimp.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:08 pm

My ghost shrimp breeding tank was over run with planaria. It also got overtaken by wolffia and some pretty tough string algae. Once the breeding experiment was over I evacuated the shrimp and put in 3 SAE's, a 3 spot blue gourami, and a small Koi. The next day the planaria (hundreds of them) were simply gone. Over the next few days the wolffia went away, and now the string algae is almost gone.

It is next to impossible to clean this stuff out of riccia and javamoss, this this combo seems to do the trick. They get nothing to eat until the job is done. Now that the planaria problem is fixed the Blue gets some brine shrimp to keep him going.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:09 pm

I'd keep the fish in there for a while longer. Planaria dig themselves into the gravel waiting for better times. The fish can't reach them there and the planaria can feast for quite some time.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:10 pm

I sure will. I had totally cleaned out this tank after the last infestation, even used hot water, hot enough to scald me, but not hot enough to kill all of them. Sometime during the ghost breeding experiment, they took hold again.

I can't believe they are smart enough to stay in hiding for long. The planaria just vanished though. I can't believe he could eat them all in one day.

xerxeswasachump · Post by **xerxeswasachump** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 6:49 pm

I would recommend a betta. I'm sure they would eat those things.

ToddnBecka · Post by **ToddnBecka** » Wed May 24, 2006 11:16 pm

I have some of the pests in my 10 gallon planted shrimp tank. I'm thinking: move the shrimp temporarily, save some snails, then dose the tank with invert poison. After changing out the water, return the shrimp and snails. Any thoughts on this method?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:44 am

It would be safer & faster to remove the shrimp & snails (be sure no hydra hitch hike) and raise the water temp to around 110 for a few hours, then back to normal via water changes. That temp will kill the hydra, but most plants will survive. The shrimp & snails can go back the same day.

Hillgirl · Post by **Hillgirl** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:20 am

WOW, I am just now figuring out what these nasty little things are!! I went to the pet store yesterday to purchase a couple of Clown Loaches (very small ones) to help get rid of my snail problem. I asked the fella working there what he thaught these little things were in my tank and as I described them he told me of the Hydras!!! Now here I see info on them!!!!
I also purchased a very small Pleco and it looks like he may be gonna eat some of these things. Any one ever have the Loaches or Plecos to eat the Hydras? I don't want to put anything in there that is gonna kill my Cherry Shrimp but I need something that will eat them.
Mine came in when I purchased the shrimp and some Java Moss. Along with the moss came a million snail larvae, these hydras and now I have something looks like tiny little white bugs on my glass. WHEW, I don't know that it was all worth the trouble. I hate to loose my shrimp now so I guess I'll fight with this stuff.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:58 am

The tiny white bugs are probably copepods. They often ride in on plants and are harmless. The hydra will kill baby shrimp. Pond snails are no problem, they are easy to trap & remove. I'm pretty sure the loaches will eat shrimp, so watch out.