Boiling Hydra

Not too sure if this should be in disease or not...please move if you need to mods!

Anyways, I have been feeding my betta live food for the past few months. Little did I know Hydra could get into my tank this way. I just noticed a few of them on Monday and I am picking off the ones I can reach. Master Kohga (my betta) is also doing a pretty good job hunting them lol.
I know my tank really isn't in danger from them considering I only have a betta and two nerites in a 20 gal long, but I still want them gone. I've done TONS of research and I had plans to use the dog dewormer but then read that even after deep cleaning the tank my nerites could still die. I would use heat but I have Anacharis and I don't know if it can handle it, also I don't want my bacteria to die. This is my only tank. So I came up with a plan.
1.) Remove the fish and snails with little tank water.
2.) Turn off filter and heater, take them out along with the co2.
3.) Scrub down all decor and plants really well using a bristle straw cleaner to loosen up any Hydra. Put plants in another container and place decor on towel
4.) Begin to drain the water and scrub the aquarium walls to get floaters that I can suck up.
5.) Suck up the gravel (where most of them seem to be) into a bucket and try to get all of the water out of the tank.
6.) Boil the gravel in the bucket and begin refilling the aquarium to check for any survivors.
7.) Add decor and equipment back, once gravel is done add that back and the plants. Finally add the fish and snails.

I have a concerns though...Is there Hydra hiding in my HOB filter?

 

Are you kidding? They’re probably hiding on the snails and fish as soon as they heard boil. Why do you want to go to so much trouble? Take your snails out. Do the treatment. Super vac the gravel. Overthinking again. Now if it was planaria I could see it. Like a flat maggot that can see. Nope. Not gonna happen. Crossing fingers knocking on wood.
As far as the snails, I’d just keep them separate for a few water changes with good gravel vacs. Just my one cent. I’m cheap today.

 

I've heard of people going weeks with water changes and carbon and the snails still died. I just don't want to take the risk. The gravel is on the stove now and all the inhabitants and equipment is in QT. Just have to finish taking out the water and using a napkin to get anything left.
I will do whatever I have to for my water babies lol
Also scrubbed the snail shells.

Filling the tank back up. I think I see a few green dots on the glass but I am hoping that good old tap water will kill them.

 

I've heard of people going weeks with water changes and carbon and the snails still died. I just don't want to take the risk. The gravel is on the stove now and all the inhabitants and equipment is in QT. Just have to finish taking out the water and using a napkin to get anything left.
I will do whatever I have to for my water babies lol
Also scrubbed the snail shells.

This happened to me. I had a nerite and a mystery snail die several weeks after treatment even with big water changes and running carbon. They weren't in the tank during treatment and the nerite was added about 4 weeks after treating the tank. Admitedly I didn't gravel vac (I have carpetting plants). I didn't think the treatment would stay in the tank that long.

 

I heard it doesn't fully dissolve so the granules get in the gravel. Plus I would be scared of it getting soaked into the silicone or something.
I hate it too because it seemed like such a good idea until I read about the whole nerite thing.

 

Yeah, I know. I actually bought some spixI snails to try and tackle it naturally, but my infestation was too far gone for them to make a dent.

 

This happened to me. I had a nerite and a mystery snail die several weeks after treatment even with big water changes and running carbon. They weren't in the tank during treatment and the nerite was added about 4 weeks after treating the tank. Admitedly I didn't gravel vac (I have carpetting plants). I didn't think the treatment would stay in the tank that long.

Awww. I’m so sorry you lost your shellbabies. That’s heartbreaking when you tried so hard to protect them.

 

Okay, filled about an inch or two with room temp water, the rest was with 100°F water. My digital thermometer tells me it's about 95°F in the tank right now. QT is a little cooler than 80°F. Going to dip each plant into scalding water before I put them back into the tank. Decor will be soaked in hot water as well.

 

I heard it doesn't fully dissolve so the granules get in the gravel. Plus I would be scared of it getting soaked into the silicone or something.
I hate it too because it seemed like such a good idea until I read about the whole nerite thing.

I’m still sorry you’ve had to go through all this. Sounds like you’re energetic though. Need my address? Lol. Wishing you luck in this.

 

Thank you Gypsy. I swear if I see any in my tank I'm gonna lose it lol.
Gravel soup doesn't smell too bad either...cooked both pots at about 150°F for an hour, now I'm scooping out one pot and I'm going to use the water from there for the decor. Might be TOO hot for the plants.
Sorry for all of these constant updates, but if this works I want other people to know.

 

Thank you Gypsy. I swear if I see any in my tank I'm gonna lose it lol.
Gravel soup doesn't smell too bad either...cooked both pots at about 150°F for an hour, now I'm scooping out one pot and I'm going to use the water from there for the decor. Might be TOO hot for the plants.
Sorry for all of these constant updates, but if this works I want other people to know.

Are you kidding? You know I live for updates! And the more detail the better. Make my day!

 

I'm really curious as well. I actually found some in another of my tanks. My heart sank. I am actually just going to leave it though and reduce feeding to see if that gets rid of it. There are no small shrimp (just ammanos) or fry in the tank so nothing will get hurt by the hydra. I am interested to know if your method works.

 

I've only seen one in QT so far. My only fear is my filter. I have no idea if that would have Hydra in it.
At least now my tank is disinfected though lol still haven't dechlorinated the water. Going to do that like right before I put the animals back in. Hopefully the plants will be okay with a little chlorine and stuff.

 

I've only seen one in QT so far. My only fear is my filter. I have no idea if that would have Hydra in it.
At least now my tank is disinfected though lol still have dechlorinated the water. Going to do that like right before I put the animals back in. Hopefully the plants will be okay with a little chlorine and stuff.

Yeah, you can't really disinfect it with heat without killing your cycle. Tough one.

 

*INHALE* Gosh dang it. Might have to lose my cycle. I can live with that, didn't want to though.

 

*INHALE* Gosh dang it. Might have to lose my cycle. I can live with that, didn't want to though.

You know it’s in there.
Wait that’s supposed to be a different face

 

Oh that sucks. Who knows it might be OK, I have no idea what temps BB can live in, maybe they are ok in heat?

 

Shush Gypsy! I will kill the Hydra!
Soaking the heater in hot water now. Going to go clean the pots and spatulas I used for boiling the gravel.
My hope is that if the heat doesn't kill them the tap water will.

 

I just had a thought. What about using ammonia in your filter? Attach the filter to a bucket of dechlorinated water and dose super high levels (say like over 8ppm) of ammonia. It might that kill the hydra without killing the BB?

 

Not a bad idea. I'm not sure if I have ammonia in the house, never actually dosed it before lol.
Having dinner right now next to QT, good old sauteed asparagus!
Betta seems to be doing okay even with the slightly cooler temps, looks like he's still hunting lol.

 

Unless you treat your plants you'll probably reintroduce them

 

How exactly would I treat them? I have salt on hand but I planed on using scorching tap water to dip them in.
Just scrubbed the CO2 in hot tap water, put it and the heater back into the tank.

 

How exactly would I treat them? I have salt on hand but I planed on using scorching tap water to dip them in.
Just scrubbed the CO2 in hot tap water, put it and the heater back into the tank.

Diluted bleach dip? Boiling water will kill the plants.

 

Maybe, very scared of bleach. These plants have been doing so good.
Not like boiling water, just hot sink water. I wouldn't soak them. Just give them like a thirty second rinse or something.
At least if I do get Hydra back they will have like nothing to eat lol. Just rinsed my filter with hot tap water, letting it soak right now. Not too worried, all I have is a fish and two snails in a 20 gal plus lots of plants.
I have been reading on this thing called levamisole. I think it's safe for snails? If this doesn't work I MIGHT try that if I can find out more about it.

Put my filter back in and running, still no Prime has been added to the tank yet. Next is the plants, going to make a bowl of hot water at around 110°F, rinse them around for 30 seconds, then put them in the tank which is now about 84°F.
Been doing more research on the Fenbendazole, found a fish type one on Amazon. It's called Thomas Laboratories Fish Bendazole. Mixed reviews on whether it kills nerites snails or not, seems like if you under dose it's okay. Still looking though.

Final update for tonight.
Put the plants in about 30 minutes ago, about to add Prime and then the fish and snails.

 

Shush Gypsy! I will kill the Hydra!
Soaking the heater in hot water now. Going to go clean the pots and spatulas I used for boiling the gravel.
My hope is that if the heat doesn't kill them the tap water will.

Consider me officially shushed. Zipped.

Oh. One more thing. (That’s it, just one more thing)

Seriously, I hope this all works. I can just see these thing popping up one by one by ten. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

Thank you, I really hope this took care of it. Kinda feel like I may have gone overboard with heat and stuff but I want these things gone without harming my snails.

Checked over the tank just now, it looks clean but I'm gonna give it like a month.
I'm not sure if I didn't notice them before but it looks like there are small green dots on certain parts of my front glass. Probably going to wipe them off with the algae scrubber, that's what I did last night when I saw any and they haven't come back/sprouted.

 

Checked over the tank just now, it looks clean but I'm gonna give it like a month.
I'm not sure if I didn't notice them before but it looks like there are small green dots on certain parts of my front glass. Probably going to wipe them off with the algae scrubber, that's what I did last night when I saw any and they haven't come back/sprouted.

ops:

 

I still have hope though, if they do come back there won't be a cycle or anything really for them to feed off of. Who knows, those things could have been there before and are dead and I just didn't notice them.
I mean I pretty much tore down my tank and I'm never feeding live food again. It was fun while it lasted but if I have to do this every time I get Hydra, yeah no.

Scratch that. I might still have a cycle lol. No idea how, everything but the livestock was rinsed in hot/boiling water.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

 

Okay so it's been a week and I haven't seen any yet. Some of my Anacharis melted back a little but some are also shooting off new roots. I'm not sure how much longer I should wait until I can officially say that there is no more Hydra.

 

Okay so it's been a week and I haven't seen any yet. Some of my Anacharis melted back a little but some are also shooting off new roots. I'm not sure how much longer I should wait until I can officially say that there is no more Hydra.

 

MAYDAY. Found a single Hydra in my tank on a piece of cuttlebone. Quickly removed the cuttlebone, wiped the Hydra off, rinsed the cuttlebone in tapwater, and put it back in. Scanned over the glass and decor as best as I could using a phone light since the tank lights are off. I didn't see anymore but gonna double check tomorrow. If I have these infernal things again I will use the fish dewormer. The snails will just have to be quarantined for a while and I will do a deep clean. Maybe even drain the tank again, but not boil anything this time lol