# Hydra problem



## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

not in the main tank, but a small bucket i loaded with nutrients and some algae to start farming it for flagfish

been there a couple weeks since i started it up
just looked today and saw hydra everywhere

haven't put any of the algae in the main tank, so no worries about contaminating the main tank

but ...

what do i do about the bucket ?, how do you get rid of hydra ?
best i am familiar nothing eats them due to their poisonous stingy tentacles (sounds like saltwater sea anemones don't they  i could be wrong that nothing eats them, ... but still, hydra everywhere in that bucket 

i'm sure this question has been asked dozens of times on forums all over, but i'm asking again here.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I've always used copper sulfate to get rid of hydra. Start with a half dose of coppersafe for a week, increase to full dose if they seem unaffected. Best to continue treatment for a week after they have disappeared.


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

after some searching have come across info suggesting goramis (mentioning the three-spot gorami as one that loves hydras - 6" adult 

and one mention of pond snails (yay i have pond snails 

if this is true, the pond snails aren't at a population in the bucket to help, and the hydra population is enough to take the pond snails some time to make a dent in the hydra population.

if not true, ... well i guess i'll find out if this natural method works


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

GL all I know is my dwarf gouramis and pond snails did not give the hydra a single thought.


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

hmmm, ... well my 'algae farm' isn't touching the tank till i can deal with these hydras 

i'm hesitant about the copper treatment, but worst case scenario it's easy to clean, sterilize, and start over if nothing works. not a fish tank , just for growing algae


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

each to their own copper or sterilizing it will work. Copper has always been my number one fallback. It might knock out some of the microinverts in the bucket but things like the snails will just be irritated. It would save you from starting over with the algae bucket anyways


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

i did nothing to set the bucket up other than throw in a bunch of dead/crushed plants and some fertilzers

the algae is ... growing very slowly, ... yes as slow as it's growing starting over would take even longer, ... that and i have no idea where the hydra came from.

i could guess the main tank (where i got the source algae from) but there are no hydras there that i can see (not that i can see anyway) there was in the past on a clam i noticed but haven't seen any since, ... after that i have only guesses and nothing to back it up.


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

update:
so far, ... the hydra do not seem to be as prolific as they used to be ... the pond snails could be munching on them ... or they could be starving, ... i dono, the algae is growing great


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