Hydra how to exterminate.

so i have the pleasure of dealing with a suprise hydra outbreak in a few of my tanks.it all started in one tank and through transfer was introduced into two other tanks via plants.i have delt with it before a few years back and remember there being biological control like ghost shrimps that work to varying degrees and using a copper suphate that did eradicate the hydra but is really harsh to the organisms even the plants and bacteria.so this time around i asked some fellow hobbyists and got some feed back.one trusted opinion steered me away from biological as he said it was hit or miss.he told me as well as another friend that fenbendazole a dog dewormer will do the trick.my other friend told me about the opaline or blue gourami that would go after the little buggers.and i have from experience had some ghost shrimps take em out..atleast that is my recolection of the scenario.so i bought all three remedies as i already have copper products and all the tanks infected have many plants.so here goes the battle against hydra begins.[img][/img]

oh and as you can see they are pretty big and full as i HAD some fry in a couple of tanks that have the hydra in and i being busy decided to feed heavily with live daphnia prior to knowing the hydra were there si i actualy fed them my baby fish then daphnia to top it off.double time.

so from what i have gathered the trichogaster species can assist in controling these guys so i grabbed a little blue gourami as they are not too expensive,hardy,and not too shabby in appearance if you ask me.[img][/img]

i think anything that eats em will clean it up fast...

so i already saw the blue gourami eating some of the hydra.just picking away at them.so this is already promising.i alsmost want o take him out and propagate more hydra just so i can kill them another way.[img][/img]
here is the tank just a day after he was put in.

i will send reinforcements (joking)...

oh yeah its all good cause i can drop the bomb on em if i have to.[img][/img]

will that really work?

oh yeah.it will wipe out all the worms and hydra.i have several peoples who have vouched for this remedy.my friend that has done alot of breeding has even used it with fry and shrimp.i am gonna find out its 1 gram per ten gallons but i have been informed that a half dose will work.once again we will see.

As you know I have often dealt with these annoying little critters in my shrimp tanks along with their best buddies planeria. I used a 5 gallon bucket and made a batch using 1/2 a packet of safeguard, put it into 5 1 gallon jugs and just keep it on hand now. I emptied 20% in my shrimp tanks and refilled with the safeguard water. All hydra and planeria were dead in just a few hours and no ill effects on the shrimps.

thats awesome that it works.
tricks of the trade i guess.

that is awsome.my biological control is working really good for know but this is really good to know as i do have some tanks with small shrimps that cannot have a gourami or ghosts.