Minanora Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 So, I had a hydra "bloom" in my 75g. I treated the issue with "no planaria" for three days. All of the demons turned to brown and tentacles are gone; they were still on the glass. I mag-floated the glass. They are back on the glass... do they readhear? Are they alive? There's no tentacles...they're still brown. Any thoughts? Treat with "No Planaria" again? I feel bad because that stuff definitely killed close to, or maybe even, 100% of my snails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer V Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 I've had hydra in both of my tanks and it seems to me that it's really an aesthetic problem and they die off quickly if the food supply goes down. Can you add any fish that will eat them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) Yes meds that kill planaria and hydra kill snails. I’m sorry you had to find that out the hard way. My deepest sympathies. When conditions become inhospitable hydra cyst up. Those cysts can survive uninhabitable conditions including freezing and drying for some insane amount of time 1000-1400 years I think I read somewhere. It’s why they are called immortal hydra. They are not a problem unless they bloom out of control. Stop feeding powdered food, brine shrimp daphnia etc and foods with lots of yeast. They will cyst up and can be wiped from glass then vacuumed out but will always be there and reappear when excess food to their liking is fed continuously. They can also float as dust in the air and ge into our tanks. I have them in all my tanks and find them fascinating. When I have fry they heavily populate then the numbers cut down as my feeding changes. I even have them with eyelash size CPD fry hatching and shrimp. I have never found them to be a problem. I hope that eases your worries a bit and helps you learn to manage the population some. Best of luck. Edited January 6, 2022 by Guppysnail 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 I agree with @Guppysnail, they are fascinating creatures. I have used "No Planaria" before and it is a snail killer so they need to be removed from the tank. And as far as I am concerned, not worth trying to kill the hydra. I now have a tank with them and am truly enjoying them. No overfeeding helps. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 I pulled this video up for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 On 1/5/2022 at 7:08 PM, Guppysnail said: I pulled this video up for you. These are the gorgeous green hydra my BiL had in a pond. They have a symbiotic relationship with algae that grows inside so they can convert sunlight to food. They are elegant to watch and are much easier to take care of than their saltwater look alikes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 On 1/6/2022 at 9:01 PM, Torrey said: These are the gorgeous green hydra my BiL had in a pond. They have a symbiotic relationship with algae that grows inside so they can convert sunlight to food. They are elegant to watch and are much easier to take care of than their saltwater look alikes. I had the beautiful green ones for so long. They stayed small though. Then my guppies I think wiped them out now I can only find my pink and white ones. 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 On 1/6/2022 at 7:07 PM, Guppysnail said: I had the beautiful green ones for so long. They stayed small though. Then my guppies I think wiped them out now I can only find my pink and white ones. 😞 I have never seen pink, only green and white. The green ones get larger in direct sunlight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 (edited) Well shucks. Now I'm a member of the hydra club and I don't want to be. There is a big bloom of them in my 5g hospital tank and it sits right next to my betta 10g where I saw two of them on the front glass. I guess my betta must be hunting them and that's why his tank has two and not a million. I really don't want them in my main tank which sits inches away 😞 The hydra look like they are being aggressive with the pond snails in the tank--they are clustered on their shells in a wormlike tangle. Are the hydra stinging the snails? The platy in my hospital tank was out and about as usual until this bloom, and is now hiding in the dark corner between sponge and heater. I can't put him in another tank because he is being treated. I wonder if the hydra are bothering him. Cory and the other hydra vid I watched both suggested mollies (or sparkling gouramis) to eat the hydra. There are two fish in my hospital tank--one platy, one molly. The molly has a good appetite but he's one fish and there are literally hundreds of these beasts. I'm pretty upset and feel like the debate is between starving them out and using chemicals. At the same time, I don't want to panic if this is one of those situations where there are a million at first but they will settle down to mostly unnoticeable numbers. Not how I wanted my Saturday to start 😞 Edited January 22, 2022 by PineSong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 (edited) On 1/22/2022 at 9:53 AM, PineSong said: The hydra look like they are being aggressive with the pond snails in the tank--they are clustered on their shells in a wormlike tangle. Are the hydra stinging the snails? Quite the opposite. Ponds snails feast on hydra. They will settle if you stay away from powder food bbs and high yeast contains foods. They are attracted to and stimulated by yeast. Once they calm they are cysting and regulat vacuum will remove the cysts. Cleaning them now only breaks them apart so instead of one large yo have several small that grow large. To the best of my knowledge (which is limited I never use chemical treatments for things) anything that takes out hydra hurts snails. Hope that helps. Also sunlight helps the green ones grow. Cut back on light might help. Edited January 22, 2022 by Guppysnail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 On 1/22/2022 at 9:59 AM, Guppysnail said: They will settle if you stay away from powder food bbs and high yeast contains foods. They are attracted to and stimulated by yeast. As usual, one problem is linked to another. I just read the ingredient list on every container of food. I have 11 foods with yeast listed as an ingredient. I have 8 without yeast listed as an ingredient. What kind of crazy person has 19 kinds of food? Oh, I didn't even check the shrimp food that is in the other room, so that will be... 13 food with yeast and 8 without...Unless I count frozen bloodworms as 'without' and then that will be 13 with and 9 without. And I know I overfeed, and every day I say today is going to be the day I don't. I am going to stare at the gross hydra frost on the glass any time I feel like feeding fish. Aversion therapy. Meanwhile, every fish in this house will be eating from the 9 for a couple of weeks at least. Now I really wish Aquahuna would stop being sold out of those copper colored mollies. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 On 1/22/2022 at 10:18 AM, PineSong said: What kind of crazy person has 19 kinds of food? Me. I have at least that. I’m happy to share your crazy. On 1/22/2022 at 10:18 AM, PineSong said: I say today is going to be the day I don't. I’ll share this as well 🤪 On 1/22/2022 at 10:18 AM, PineSong said: gross hydra frost on the glass any time I feel like feeding fish. Aversion therapy. Your on your own here I take pictures and video of my hydra same as my other pets 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 On 1/22/2022 at 9:23 AM, Guppysnail said: Your on your own here I take pictures and video of my hydra same as my other pets 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Rofl I do the same, I think they're neat. Honestly, I'm not convinced hydra are really that big of a problem. I only notice them in my tanks when I feed a lot of frozen brine shrimp. When I cut back on it, they go away on their own. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 (edited) Okay, @Guppysnail@H.K.Luterman and others with experience, just to make sure I'm (now mildly) freaking out about the right thing... this is the 'crud' that is all over the plant and side of the tank. It was never there until the hydra were so I assume it is part of their bloom? I can imagine not caring about the little slender palm tree guys, but all this is gross looking. Edited January 23, 2022 by PineSong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Is this a newer tank. I had something similar in one that started 3 months after I set it up. I just wiped it off and vacuumed. It went away on its own after awhile. I did not notice any I’ll affects on any critter. Do you strain and rinse bbs? It could be from excess nutrients or bacterial colonies feeding on the excess yeast from the food you were feeding. Palm trees perfect description 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Yeah hydra are just the little palm tree guys. I'm not sure what that other stuff is. What are you feeding? And yeah, how old is the tank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 Thank you both. It is a 5g hospital tank that I set up a couple weeks ago, with a sponge filter from my previous QT tank, new and used substrate and random plant clippings from other tanks. I've been feeding a variety of stuff (Xtreme Spirulina, Bug Bites, Hikari Daphnia, etc.) but I have never used live baby brine. I have some salt in the water and Ich-X has been in there. I put Kanaplex in yesterday late afternoon and the crud is much less visible/present now. So Guppysnail, you may be right about it being a bacterial bloom of some kind. Sorry I blamed the innocent hydra for the gross crud! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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