Hydra, Planaria, Copepods!!!

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OGFadedThoughts

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
48
It seems each time I feed my shrimp I have had a new living thibg in my aquarium

10g planted shrimp tank with fluval substrate. Really hard to vacuum

Is there any kind of fish that will eat these guys and not harm my shrimp???

Or is there other ways to get rid of them?

Thank you!

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To remove planaria use No-planaria. It's shrimp safe.
 
I actually read that planaria is no harm to shrimp or shrimpletts but the hydra Is stinging mt adults and killed a baby how do I get ride of them?? Its heavly planted I'm scared to use chems I don't want to kill my plants or shrimp

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I actually read that planaria is no harm to shrimp or shrimpletts but the hydra Is stinging mt adults and killed a baby how do I get ride of them?? Its heavly planted I'm scared to use chems I don't want to kill my plants or shrimp

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The best way to remove them if you want to avoid using chemical is physical manual removal and not to over feed.

If these a lot of hydra on the side of the aquarium, use an air tube and syphon them out. Otherwise, remove whatever plants the hydras are hitchhiking on.

How often do you feed your shrimps?
 
Once every thrree days. The hydra is on all my plants unfortunately

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Planaria will eat the shrimps eggs and can kill even an adult shrimp!!!
 
I would try to clean out as many of the hydra and other things as possible, then do a good tank cleaning, especially the gravel for the planaria, which are actually harmless just unsightly. Keep doing this every few days, cut back on the amount of feeding and you should start seeing a difference. Get a brine shrimp net and net out hydra every time you see them in between cleanings.
 
NO Planaria kills hydra as well as planaria, but it also kills snails and I expect it would kill the copepods too. Copepods won't harm anything, though, they aren't big enough. But if you don't like seeing them, well, No planaria will probably do them in.

If you remove Hydra by hand, be very careful not to damage one. Every cell can produce a brand new Hydra, as they are immortal.

Native North American planaria are also not the voracious shrimp killers they are reputed to be. But south east Asian planaria species can get to over an inch and quarter long, though, and THEY can kill adult shrimp, baby shrimp, whatever they like. Even so, they don't actively hunt shrimp.. it's mainly a case of being big enough to eat the adult shrimp if they happen to find a vulnerable one. I've seen a tankful of them with Sulawesi shrimps in it, and the shrimp ignored them completely. The Asian planaria appeared to ignore the shrimp too, spent their time gliding over glass and rocks mostly, eating biofilm, it appeared.

Native North American planaria are mainly a danger to newly moulted shrimp, who for a short time can't move after they moult, and the odd newborn, who may not be able to get away fast enough.

But healthy adult and sub adult shrimp are in no danger from our small planaria species. Whatever planaria eat have to allow the planaria to digest them slowly. Planaria have no claws, no teeth. They have a simple mouth only, in the middle of the underside. They secrete digestive juice through the mouth onto their prey. They glide around hoping to land on something they can eat, but they don't hunt shrimp specifically. But if you have large numbers of them, then they can cause problems simply because their chances of finding new born shrimp increases with their numbers.

Hydra do not hunt shrimp either. They sit in fixed positions and simply react to motion near their tentacles. Like jellyfish, they shoot nematocysts, tiny stinging darts, if you will, that contain toxic venom. This can kill a baby shrimp that gets too close to them. It won't usually harm an adult shrimp.. but they are still not nice to have around. Baby shrimp are too big for most Hydra to consume, but they are not smart, they sting anything that comes close.

Fenbendazole is another choice that will kill hydra and planaria. Shrimp safe, fish safe, but may kill snails.
 
Wow great post fishfur! Thanks all!:)

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I just finished treating my tank with No Planaria product.

I was pretty nervous about it. I was able to remove a few shrimps and put in another tank (yes, possibly spreading hydra with them) for insurance.

I actually only dosed for one day; killed the hydra and a lot more planaria than I ever knew I had :(, pretty much right away. Pretty sure it did not kill the copepods - they are localized on my marimo ball, so I don't know if one could use it as a bait/trap plant?

Just keep searching aquarium forums if you wanna know more about the product, it took me a long time before I found anything negative about it. But for me, my adult and very tiny shrimplets did fine. The only thing I saw about plants was that maybe you should not fertilize while using it.
 
To kill all my planarias I used no planaria for about a week... It must be shrimp safe, but 100% kill the neritas snails. Pond snails too.
 
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