Hydra infestation in tank with fry

[ApistoQueen]

I have a 32 gal planted tank which has 2 week old Apisto fry in a breeder box and, as of this morning, BN pleco fry. Unfortunately this morning I also noticed that a hydra infestation has bloomed (though there are none in the breeder box itself as far as I can see). Advice I can find online seems to suggest I stop feeding small foods but doing so would starve the Apisto fry.

I have one other cycled tank currently holding silvertip tetras that I could move the Apisto fry to, but I'd be reluctant to do so in the breeder box as it undoubtedly has hydra on the outer surface and would introduce them to the second tank in numbers.

I have no idea what the best course of action is and am suffering a little analysis paralysis. Does anyone here have a suggestion for what to do?

Edited March 18, 2022 by ApistoQueen

[Lizzyduff]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one...I just started feeding fry/baby shrimp food to my tank now filled with babies so of course within a week or two I now have a hydra infestation...well...I saw 5. Still though.  I heard ramshorn snails and other larger snails will eat them.  Most of the fish that eat them like bettas or mollies would also happily eat the babies too so that isn't an option.  There's the chemical 'no planaria' powder stuff but it'll kill all the snails and most of the detritus worms risking a tank crash... I've also heard that removing your fish,  heating up the tank to 105 Fahrenheit for a bit works... just make sure to cool it back to regular temperature before putting your fish back in...for now I'm hoping my ramshorn snails will eat them and once the babies are big enough,  I'll just starve the hydra out. Not sure what else to do. 

[B1gJ4k3]

I had good luck killing hydra in my 40 gallon ram growout tank with this stuff. They were about a month old at the time. I did the first treatment and the hydra were wiped out by the next morning.

HOWEVER, my tank did get really cloudy about 24 hours after treatment. I did a big water change and things were fine, but it was a little concerning. Maybe it was a bacterial bloom to deal with all the dead hydra? I never had any deaths or problems, but it was a relatively small bio load for a large volume of water. So, if you do go that route, I'd make sure to keep an eye on it.

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by B1gJ4k3

[Lizzyduff]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:24 AM, B1gJ4k3 said:

I had good luck killing hydra in my 40 gallon ram growout tank with this stuff. They were about a month old at the time. I did the first treatment and the hydra were wiped out by the next morning.

HOWEVER, my tank did get really cloudy about 24 hours after treatment. I did a big water change and things were fine, but it was a little concerning. Maybe it was a bacterial bloom to deal with all the dead hydra? I never had any deaths or problems, but it was a relatively small bio load for a large volume of water. So, if you do go that route, I'd make sure to keep an eye on it.

 

How did your snails do? I suppose I could pick them all out and put them in a different tank for a while. Nuke this one, then put them back later... 🤔

[B1gJ4k3]

@LizzyduffI did pick all the bigger ramshorns out beforehand. The smaller ones that are still in there are still alive, but seem like they were probably affected in one way or another. They're all bunched up in one area of the tank where I've got some dwarf sag growing and don't seem to move much. They're definitely not dead, but they are sluggish and I would think they will probably die sooner or later.

If you're worried about it and if you're planning to do the full three day treatment (I only did one day), I'd definitely save what you want. God knows I have enough ramshorns, though...

[ApistoQueen]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:24 AM, B1gJ4k3 said:

I had good luck killing hydra in my 40 gallon ram growout tank with this stuff. They were about a month old at the time. I did the first treatment and the hydra were wiped out by the next morning.

HOWEVER, my tank did get really cloudy about 24 hours after treatment. I did a big water change and things were fine, but it was a little concerning. Maybe it was a bacterial bloom to deal with all the dead hydra? I never had any deaths or problems, but it was a relatively small bio load for a large volume of water. So, if you do go that route, I'd make sure to keep an eye on it.

 

I'm also worried about my snails. I really like them and they're doing a great job keeping the tank clean and balanced. I've read quite a few reviews or anti-parasitics that say they were unable to re-introduce snails even months after treatment.

I've read that mollies are really keen on hydra and get on okay with Apistos, so I think I might pop to Aquarium Coop and see if they have a couple.

[B1gJ4k3]

@ApistoQueenI should also say that I had another 10 gallon tank that also has some hydra problems along with some very young ram fry and one of my really successful breeding pairs. I was too nervous to put the powder into that tank without testing it first. I ended up putting in some (again, overly-abundant) ramshorns from the other tank in and not going so crazy feeding BBS for about a week or two and their numbers are definitely reduced. I'm sure they're not gone, but there definitely aren't as many. I'm still feeding BBS, but I'm really conscious to not just dump them in there (like I do other fry tanks that also have hydra problems)

It's easy to just feed feed feed your fry (especially with BBS and smaller foods), but as long as your tank is pretty well established and you have some plant matter for infusoria to utilize, I don't think they'll want for food. They might not grow as quickly, but you won't get a hydra explosion either.

[sumplkrum]

I used levamisole to clear up a tank with that was infested with hydra and planaria. It is snail-safe if you're worried about that.

Honestly though, I'm not sure I'd risk it on fry. I'd probably move them to a temporary tank before doing a treatment.

[sumplkrum]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:41 PM, sumplkrum said:

Honestly though, I'm not sure I'd risk it on fry. I'd probably move them to a temporary tank before doing a treatment.

Greg Sage released a video yesterday on using levamisole and says he uses it with fry without any problems.

[SJ fishing]

I feed bbs daily and get hydra every 2 weeks or so. I just stop feeding the bbs for a couple days and they die off or get eaten by the snails.  for those days I use frozen bbs and just feed the fry in the breeder boxes

[Minanora]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:08 AM, Lizzyduff said:

How did your snails do? I suppose I could pick them all out and put them in a different tank for a while. Nuke this one, then put them back later... 🤔

So I had a hydra outbreak in what was supposed to be my shrimp tank. I got that "No Planaria".  It worked great!

 

Then I got hydra in my 75G that had a huge population of snails. I used no planaria. no more hydra, then, bonus, kinda, no more snails. It kills snails.

[Dancing Matt]

I found that changing out the water more helps me.