I have read that hydras are a positive sign of the overall health of a tank, so that's good.
I have also read that they will eat fry, I'm not too concerned about this. At the rate my Swords are reproducing, I'll be bringing batches to a friend to feed to his Oscars so if I loose a few along the way, no worries.
I have also read that they will sting my fish...?? Now I've squished one or two with my finger, and seen some of my fishies swim past them with out any ill effect. I have also seen some of the fish try and eat them and spit them out - makes sense - I would imagine if I stuck one in my mouth, I might actually feel it sting too.
I know you are all going to say, reduce feeding, but I have even found them in my QT tank where there was only 1 fish and controlling his food was easy. I've been doing a gravel vac with a 40-50% water change weekly. I'm assuming that I am seeing more now because on Saturday I rearranged some plants and that stirred up the gravel real good.
How do these things come to be in a tank? I added driftwood that I bought at a pet store. I boiled it for hours and left it out in the AZ sun for a week - I'm pretty sure nothing would have survived that. I know I also have nematodes and probably some sort of pod - not sure about these yet, just guessing that's what those tiny white specks are on the glass.
For now I guess I'll up the gravel vacs and try to starve the tank but do I need to be obsessed about getting these things out?
I have also read that they will eat fry, I'm not too concerned about this. At the rate my Swords are reproducing, I'll be bringing batches to a friend to feed to his Oscars so if I loose a few along the way, no worries.
I have also read that they will sting my fish...?? Now I've squished one or two with my finger, and seen some of my fishies swim past them with out any ill effect. I have also seen some of the fish try and eat them and spit them out - makes sense - I would imagine if I stuck one in my mouth, I might actually feel it sting too.
I know you are all going to say, reduce feeding, but I have even found them in my QT tank where there was only 1 fish and controlling his food was easy. I've been doing a gravel vac with a 40-50% water change weekly. I'm assuming that I am seeing more now because on Saturday I rearranged some plants and that stirred up the gravel real good.
How do these things come to be in a tank? I added driftwood that I bought at a pet store. I boiled it for hours and left it out in the AZ sun for a week - I'm pretty sure nothing would have survived that. I know I also have nematodes and probably some sort of pod - not sure about these yet, just guessing that's what those tiny white specks are on the glass.
For now I guess I'll up the gravel vacs and try to starve the tank but do I need to be obsessed about getting these things out?