Goldie Blue Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Buckle up for a fun read. About two weeks ago I discovered that my canister filter (the only filter) in my 20 long was unplugged for at least 9 days, possibly longer. Because the air stone was running full speed, I never thought anything was amiss. My parameters were somehow absolutely perfect, I am guessing because the tank is basically a jungle of plants. I have no idea how this happened, but thankfully things were mostly okay. But a few days ago I noticed some small hydra in the tank, hanging on my crypts. That is my most pressing issue at the moment, but I also have an explosion of teeny tiny ramshorn snails that hitched a ride in that I do not want in my tank. Tank is stocked with 1 betta, about 9 adult mystery snails, 1 nerite, and dozens of neocaridina shrimp, with new babies just about every week. It seems like mystery snails will eat hydra. I've watched a few videos, Lav's Snails said hers eradicated her hydra infestation. I ordered some Panacur-C (fenbendazole, powder packet form) the moment I saw the hydra, which came in today. So the question is, would you trust the mystery snails to eat them (it doesn't seem to be a massive infestation of hydra at this point), or dose the tank with the fenbendazole? My main concern is my baby shrimp being eaten by the hydra, but I see dozens of babies in there right now. But I am terrified of medications wiping out my tank. If dosing is suggested, can I have exact dose instructions please? It is a 20 gallon tank. I know I would need to take my nerite and mystery snails out, will the fenben kill these ramshorns (hopefully)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 How much and what are you feeding the tank with? Typically when hydra breaks out on my stuff it's when I do too much baby brine shrimp or powdered food. I usually stop feeding that right away and let it all die off. This might also help deal with the snail issue if there's less food available. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 On 1/31/2024 at 4:38 AM, Goldie Blue said: Buckle up for a fun read. About two weeks ago I discovered that my canister filter (the only filter) in my 20 long was unplugged for at least 9 days, possibly longer. Because the air stone was running full speed, I never thought anything was amiss. My parameters were somehow absolutely perfect, I am guessing because the tank is basically a jungle of plants. I have no idea how this happened, but thankfully things were mostly okay. But a few days ago I noticed some small hydra in the tank, hanging on my crypts. That is my most pressing issue at the moment, but I also have an explosion of teeny tiny ramshorn snails that hitched a ride in that I do not want in my tank. Tank is stocked with 1 betta, about 9 adult mystery snails, 1 nerite, and dozens of neocaridina shrimp, with new babies just about every week. It seems like mystery snails will eat hydra. I've watched a few videos, Lav's Snails said hers eradicated her hydra infestation. I ordered some Panacur-C (fenbendazole, powder packet form) the moment I saw the hydra, which came in today. So the question is, would you trust the mystery snails to eat them (it doesn't seem to be a massive infestation of hydra at this point), or dose the tank with the fenbendazole? My main concern is my baby shrimp being eaten by the hydra, but I see dozens of babies in there right now. But I am terrified of medications wiping out my tank. If dosing is suggested, can I have exact dose instructions please? It is a 20 gallon tank. I know I would need to take my nerite and mystery snails out, will the fenben kill these ramshorns (hopefully)? I wouldn't use fenbendazole in the tank it's very toxic to snails can kill them months after treatment if your feeding live baby brine I would stop feeding it for a couple of weeks and the hydra will reduce in numbers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Blue Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 On 1/31/2024 at 4:54 AM, Colu said: I wouldn't use fenbendazole in the tank it's very toxic to snails can kill them months after treatment I'd take them out, and leave them out if I go that route. Except for the ramshorn. I read it can take forever for it to leave a tank, sometimes never, and I am fine with that but I really don't want to do it unless I have to. Just want to know if anyone has positive stories of mystery snails eating the hydra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I’ve never seen Mystery Snails eating Hydra. I’ve had it a couple of times. The first was in a shrimp only tank and I used Fenbenazole. It definitely worked. The last time I had it I just cut back on the amount of powdered foods and baby brine shrimp I was feeding. It has since died out and isn’t there anymore. I currently have a few in my Angelfish tank, but they’re just part of the ecosystem at this point. If they get out of control I’ll cut out the Amazon Sword leaves they’re on. Never once have I seen them harm and fish, shrimp, or snails. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t ever happened; just means that I haven’t seen it. Im glad I’ve tried several ways and have gotten rid of them. But at this point I wouldn’t use meds. I’d rather just manually remove them or change my practices and rid of them naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Yes I have a good deal of experience using fenbendazole in egg hatch tanks, shrimp tanks and the like. It’s very easy you need a gram scale. Do a large water change and vacuum if possible. .1 mg fenben per 10 gallons wait 24 hours dose again but no water change. I sometimes even wait (forget to dose 😆)for 48 hours. Let this marinate for a week. Hydra and planaria are gone. The good part of it hanging around especially in hatch tanks is hydra does not come back even heavy feeding baby brine for a few months. it’s considered one of the gentler working methods and is even used in the Herp world on delicates like salamanders Very affective at hydra and planaria very easy to use I’m not sure about the ramshorns. I have the mini ramshorns who are not phased by fenben but bladdersnails, nerites, mystery, Spixii, piano and white wizards are affected. keep an eye out it works slowly by making the cells unable to use nutrients so essentially starving critters death is my loose understanding. if the ramshorns start dying it won’t be right away so watch for it for weeks and monitor for ammonia if they do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Does it kill bladder snails? If it doesn't at regular dose, does it kill them at a higher dose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 On 2/1/2024 at 11:31 AM, jwcarlson said: Does it kill bladder snails? If it doesn't at regular dose, does it kill them at a higher dose? For me it does at regular dose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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