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Thread: What worm is that? Kill all my fish in the tank.

  1. #1
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    What worm is that? Kill all my fish in the tank.

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    Hi can someone take a look at the pictures in my gallery and tell me what worm is that? Currently i have one tray and one tank of fish wipe out mysteriously.

    http://www.killies.com/forum/modules...view_photo.php

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    Can't see clearly but it looked like hydra to me.

    Regards,
    Ong Poh San

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    Yes those are Hydra. They are fry killers. I believe some fellas here have a good method of dealing with this pest. I have never encountered Hydra before in my tanks so my experience with them is rather limited.
    Fish.. Simply Irresistable
    Back to Killies... slowly.

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    It's definitely Hydra. Click here to see a better picture.

    Hydra are known to eat fry but I supposed it has to be big Hydra and small fry.

    Loh K L

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    Does this hydra thing propagate? Through air? Is my fry in the near by tray endangered? I think it is feeding on my cherry and yamato shrimp baby..... Now i am prepare to throw everything away. But just incase i get this problem again in my other tank. I think it is best that i pratice zaping these beast.

    Thanks for identifying that for me. Now is my turn to do R&D.
    Revenge is a must. Since it is the primary suspect responsible to at least 3 of my fry and many baby cherry shrimp.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by keehoe
    Does this hydra thing propagate? Through air? Is my fry in the near by tray endangered? I think it is feeding on my cherry and yamato shrimp baby..... Now i am prepare to throw everything away. But just incase i get this problem again in my other tank. I think it is best that i pratice zaping these beast.

    Thanks for identifying that for me. Now is my turn to do R&D.
    Revenge is a must. Since it is the primary suspect responsible to at least 3 of my fry and many baby cherry shrimp.
    Hi keehoe,

    Hydra would usually come as a contaminant of live food, and they have tentacles that paralyse the frys as they swim by, killing them.

    I've got them killing my frys too recently, due to my neglect of my Nanacara anomala brood.

    Killing hydra is quite easy, if you have the means. Doing a search would yield medication like flubendazole, which is at the same time an anthelminthic (dewormer). Fortunately, I managed to find another medication of the same class, Fenbendazole, from a local hobbyist, and it work just as well.

    A few hours is enough to kill the hydra, as they shrivelled and dropped dead. It has however, no effects on the frys and they grew up just fine.

    I know such medications are hard to come by, but I'm not about to distrubute it for fear of abuse by hobbyists here. However, the other medication you can use, would be medication like formaldehyde or formalin. This should be readily available in the LFS. But, do make sure you remove the livestock before treating the tank, as some frys or smaller fishes may not take too wel to formalin, which is a preservative. Formalin is also carcinogenic, so please handle with care.

    Cheers,

    Kenny

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    You can also try hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). There is also a formulation sold in the lfs to kill snails which claims can also kill hydra. Sold under popular names such as JBL and Sera. Could be formaldehyde or formalin based, as Kenny mentioned.

    If you still have frys and cherry shrimps in the tank, remove them to another container before trying the formulation and remember to disinfect your net also.
    Zulkifli

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    To kill hydra is quite simple. Starve them and they'll eventually die off quickly. In the past before I've access to the medication that kill them, I use to remove all the live stock from the infected tank. Leave the tank there for a week or 2 and the hydra will all die off.

    When you cut the hydra into 2 parts, both parts will grow into a separate hydra. They behave exactly like the flatworm where they'll be able to survive even cut into 2.

    If you need help to get the hydra off quick and not harm the livestock (even the shrimps) contact me and I can pass you some medication to get rid of them.
    Au SL

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    There are a lot of aquamyths about Hydra coming in with live foods and even on Artemia cysts. Basically, those are almost always not true.

    Hydra almost always come in on plants or wet aquarium equipment (nets?) and ornaments, but may undergrow a fast growth bloom if bbs, Daphnia, Cyclops or other suitable live foods are being fed. With impeccable application of the logical fallacy "post hoc, ergo propter hoc," (after this, therefore because of this), the aquarist often blames the food and not the real cause.

    Since they are trivially easy to eliminate with anti-helmentics, formaldehyde, or even "Amquel," we shouldn't get too exercised about them, IMHO.

    That does nothing to relieve the grief of the aquarist encountering their destructive behavior for the first time. Keehoe, you have my sincere sympathy.

    Wright
    01 760 872-3995
    805 Valley West Circle
    Bishop, CA 93514 USA

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    I have seen a few Hydras in my shrimp tank before and I thought they were cute , didn't know they kill frys Fortunately they have disappeared from the tank. Does fish eats Hydra ?

    Quote Originally Posted by keehoe
    Does this hydra thing propagate? Through air? Is my fry in the near by tray endangered? I think it is feeding on my cherry and yamato shrimp baby.....
    Off topic - you have baby Yamato shrimps ?
    If you are into Nature, check out the new NSS Nature Forum.
    See my Nature photos and Butterfly Blog

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    Quote Originally Posted by GanCW
    I have seen a few Hydras in my shrimp tank before and I thought they were cute , didn't know they kill frys Fortunately they have disappeared from the tank. Does fish eats Hydra ?
    Hi Gan,

    As far as I know, no fish will ever touch hydra.

    The problem of hydra is mainly due to overfeeding.

    So to stay away from problems, do not overfeed you fishes.
    Au SL

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    After getting some in a large outdoor daphnia tub I took a few of the interesting little things into a jar and tried to feed them...only problem was that the daphnia I provided were too large and they died after a week or so as Au Sl said.

    I can't quite see them killing all but extremely small fry and then the fry would probably die some distance away rather than be subdued by the hydra...

    Or maybe those were wimpy hydra...lol

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    I have these pesky things in my planted tank, do you think if I use the ick medication it would be alright to the plants? I know the med has formaldehyde in it. Thanks .

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    Certain plants like hornwort will melt if such medications are introduced into the tank. If you want, proceed with caution.
    Zulkifli

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    Hi all

    I'm going to have to be the dissenting voice today (as usual). I don't see the resemblance between KeeHoe and Timebomb's picture. What I do see is a planarian worm on the sponge filter and this is an indicator of a filthy tank in need of a good cleaning.

    Check your nitrate levels. I bet it is off the chart.

    regards

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    Tyrone,
    Kee Hoe's image doesn't show the pest well but it's easy to differentiate. If it's anchored at one end, be it tank wall, plants or hanging from the surface and has "tentacles", it's hydra. If it crawls, it isn't.

    I do agree tho, that Kee Hoe has to buck up on fish husbandry or simply feed less.
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

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    Hi thanks for all the sympathy and information. I think i will put some of them into small bottle for experiment and for the mean whle leave them alone. I have bigger problem to handle. I had food poisoning and were lack of energy but that were off topic. I was hoping to find a natural way of removing these. The tank that having hydra is not my over feeding tank. Looks like the fry and snail have done good job in cleaning up my overfeeding tray.

    I realize the first few fish that die from that tank were SAE. Anyone else notice the same thing? This tank only have some cherry shrimp, Yamato shrimps and most importantly my biggest population of thin-leaf java fern.
    Does hydra stick to the glass or free swimming around and be everywhere such as near the leaf, stick to body of my shrimp?

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by keehoe
    Does hydra stick to the glass or free swimming around and be everywhere such as near the leaf, stick to body of my shrimp?
    Hydra will stick on anything that don't move. Be it on the sand, glass and plants. I've not seen the freshwater hydra on snail shells where the snail tends to move around. But one thing for sure is that hydra will not hold on to shrimps and fishes.
    Au SL

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Au SL
    Quote Originally Posted by keehoe
    Does hydra stick to the glass or free swimming around and be everywhere such as near the leaf, stick to body of my shrimp?
    Hydra will stick on anything that don't move. Be it on the sand, glass and plants. I've not seen the freshwater hydra on snail shells where the snail tends to move around. But one thing for sure is that hydra will not hold on to shrimps and fishes.
    keehoe,

    Once, the hydra infestation is so bad that they even form floating mats on the water surface, like frogbits!

    Cheers,

    Kenny

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    I realize the first few fish that die from that tank were SAE.
    This would figure. SAEs are vegitatians with long convoluted guts teaming with bacteria. Some of the bacteria are capable of taking Nitrate and converting it to Nitrite! This would poison the fish if Nitrate concentrations in the tank were very high.

    When the water goes bad the casualties begin with the vegetarians such as Bala sharks and SAEs. Funny though that plecs can stick it out...

    tt4n

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