[Killietalk] hydra elimination

[cowherd2 at earthlink_net]

I get hydra occasionally, recently had them in more than four different tanks.  These were of course 
ones that were being fed brine shrimp routinely.   And these tanks had plants like hornwort and crypts 
in them.  I did not use any chemical poisons to get rid of them.  I have found that adding a few red 
wag platies to these tanks takes care of the hydra in less than a week.   I tried gouramis, which are 
known to eat hydra, but they do not do as good a job as the platies.   Actually you see no drop in the 
poulation of hydra until a few days have passed.  I consider this lag time as the time it takes the platties 
to realize that the hydra are food.   I like this solution to the hydra problem since is means I do not subject 
the fish to the stuff that is suppose to kill hydra, snails, etc.  After taking out the platies and continuing 
to feed brine shrimp, I see no hydra.   Of cours you have to be aware of the size of fry that might be 
eaten by the platies.  But with fry a bit bigger than newly dropped platy fry, and plants for the fry to 
hide in, I do not see much loss of fry.  

Hope this works for you all,

Frank Cowherd
in Southern Maryland
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