Hydra and temporary relief from fluke tabs

[Randy Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

The reason that your hydra keeps reappearing when you feed heavy on bbs is
because the fluke tabs are only curing the symptom -- the live hydra.  It is not
eradicating them from your tank and therefore the hydra cysts are waiting for
ideal conditions in which to come back.

Hydra is like daphnia.  It can reproduce quickly in a live form.  But when
conditions are not ideal, it can/does reproduce is a dormant form like cysts.
Then when conditions get better, the hydra reappears.  I assume that this is why
many aquarists think that hydra comes in with the shrimp eggs.  What is more
likely happening is that the aquarist has killed off live hydra either by
starvation or by fluke tabs, but they keep reappearing throughout the months as
conditions return to normal and bbs is being fed.

Some will be happy just killing off the hydra every time it appears.  I want to
eradicate it from my fishroom.  If I ever see hydra in a tank, that tank is
quarantined.  Then (when I get around to it) I remove all fish and sterilize the
tank with bleach.  Plants are a tricky thing -- do I throw them out or risk
re-infestation by trying to clean them?  A biologist and fellow aquarist told me
to use a solution of Potasium Permanganate and dip the plants for about two to
three minutes in it.  Another well-informed aquarist suggested I rinse them over
water that is as hot as I can stand.  I don't know for sure what will work for
plants, but the bleach sure seems to eradicate hydra from gravel and the rest of
the tank.

One more thing...  I quarantine any plant (as well as fish) that comes into my
fishroom.  I think most hydra that appears comes in on plants (not on fish).  And
I don't buy a lot of plants.  Rather, once I get a plant and it passes the
quarantine, then I work at propagating it.

--Randy



WnyZman@aol.com wrote:

> Ken,
>     Every once and a while we all get hydra in our fry tanks due to
> overfeeding of live BBS. I asked Delores Schehr of Wet Thumb Aquatics in New
> Baltimore, MI some years ago about it's cure. Her answer was "Fluke-Tabs"
> from Aquarium Products. I have used them ever since; probably 5 years now. I
> most often use 1/2 tablet for a 10 gallon tank but am sure that would be
> enough for your 15g. Just crush it very finely over the surface of the water
> with your fingers and in only a few hours the hydra will all be dead. I have
> NEVER had any problems with the fry or adults in the tank. I have a short
> article about this on my web pages.
>     Don
>
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