# Sticky  Planaria and Hydra Elimination in Shrimp Tanks



## MatPat

I have been keeping dwarf shrimp for about 5 years beginning in late 2003. At first I only had Amano and Cherry Shrimp since they were the most commonly available species at the time. In December of 2006, I set up a shrimp rack that would hold twelve 10 gallon tanks for breeding shrimp. In addition to the Amanos and Cherries I collected several varieties of shrimp including, Crystal Reds, Yellows, Blue Pearls, New Bees, Blues, Snowballs and Dark Greens. For some reason, I was not getting many baby shrimp even though most tanks had at least one berried female in them at all times. All of my tanks had planaria in them and I had been assured by some local hobbyists that planaria were harmless to shrimp. I have since found this article: TheTrouble with Planaria, and have come to the conclusion that the planaria were indeed detrimental to my shrimp population.

Then, on the 4th of February, 2008, I noticed a young Snowball Shrimp falling lifeless to the substrate. A berried female was on the thermometer and she appeared to be releasing new born shrimp. After a close inspection of the thermometer, there were several Hydra on it. Upon seeing this, I came to the conclusion the Hydra had killed the newborn Snowball Shrimp. This is purely speculation since I did not see the Hydra actually kill the shrimp. Not only do I have planaria in my tanks that can harm my shrimp, but I also have hydra whom seem to be responsible for at least one shrimp death.

Though I prefer not to medicate my tanks, I decided to take action and look for a cure to my problem. I have seen flubendazole mentioned as a medication against planaria, but it is very difficult to find here in the United States. I decided to try using fenbendazole (a medication used to de-worm household pets and livestock) after searching for flubendazole unsuccessfully and attempting manual removal of the planaria and hydra over the course of several months.

Fenbendazole is most easily found as a dog de-wormer and can be purchased at most pet supply stores. I used the "Safe Guard" brand labeled for dogs. Panacur is another brand name product that can be used. The price was about $14 for four 1 gram packs. This was the smallest size available at my local fish shop. Online information is "sketchy" at best for using this medication in aquariums. Some people describe using a "pinch" of the powder for their tanks or using a "BB" sized measuring spoon for their tanks. Most accounts do not give the volume of their tanks so figuring out a dosage from their information is next to impossible. The best information I could find suggested using a 2ppm dosage to de-worm fish. I was worried about the effects on shrimp with this dosage so I calculated a much smaller dosage for my shrimp tanks. According to the package, one gram of the powder contains 222mg of fenbendazole. Therefore, 0.1gm would contain 22.2mg and this would be about 0.6ppm (can someone please double check my math) dose for my 10 gallon tanks.

I added 0.1gm of fenbendazole to my 10 gallon Amano and Blue Shrimp tank on the 5th of February. This tank had both planaria and hydra present. On the morning of the 6th the planaria seemed to be gone but a few Hydra were still hanging on. On the evening of the 6th, I added another 0.1gm dose of fenbendazole and by the time the lights came on in the tank on the 7th, all the Hydra seemed to be shriveled up and dead. The shrimp, snails and two Rasbora espei in this tank were doing fine.

I decided to go ahead and dose my 10 gallon Cherry shrimp tank with the same dosage on February 6th. This tank had planaria but no apparent hydra and the dosage was effective on the planaria by the next morning. As with the Amano and Blue Shrimp tank, no effects on the shrimp were noticed.

On February 10th, I dosed the remainder of my shrimp tanks (8 additional 10 gallon tanks) with 0.1gm of fenbendazole each. I decided to wait 48 hours (instead of the 24 I waited on the Amano and Blue Shrimp tank) before adding the second dosage to see if a little more time will kill the hydra. The single 0.1 gram dose of fenbendazole worked for both the planaria and hydra in all of my tanks when I waited 48 hours versus 24 hours. A water change was not completed on any of the shrimp tanks after adding the fenbendazole due to it's insolubility. All tanks received their normally scheduled, weekly water change on the 13th of February.

I do not know if the fenbendazole has any effect on the beneficial bacteria at this point. Since I have such a low bio-load in my shrimp tanks, I did not test for ammonia or nitrites prior to adding the medication. If I have to re-medicate the tanks in the future, I will increase the bio-load prior to treating and check both the NH3 and NO2 levels before and after dosing.

Since shrimp can be very susceptible to most medications, shrimp only tanks can be can be very difficult to rid of pests. A 0.6 ppm dose of fenbendazole seems to be highly effective against both planaria and hydra in shrimp tanks and does not harm shrimp, snails, or other fauna, at this dosage. Four months have passed since first dosing fenbendazole in my shrimp tanks and the planaria and hydra are still absent from the tank. Every species of shrimp has bred successfully for me to this point, even the Amano Shrimp. However, I have been unsuccessful thus far in raising the Amano larvae. A smaller dose of fenbendazole may be effective against planaria and hydra but I have not experimented with it yet.

Note: Measuring 0.1 gm of fenbendazole is difficult for most hobbyists. Since it is very insoluble in water, I have suggested to fellow hobbyists that they simply divide one 1 gram packet into ten equal parts and add one of these parts for each 10 gallons of water. So far, everyone has had success using this method. If measuring a 0.1 gram dose is not possible, a water change after 48-72 hours would probably be a good idea.


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## AaronT

Great article Matt. I was always under the impressive that the planaria and hydra were harmless as well. I'm glad to know there's a medication that won't kill the shrimp as well.


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## Tex Gal

That's good to know. If I add some fish to my tanks won't they eat these? I understand you were referring to shrimp only tanks.


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## aelysa

It doesn't affect fish besides deworming them. But don't quote me on that


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## MatPat

Tex Gal said:


> That's good to know. If I add some fish to my tanks won't they eat these? I understand you were referring to shrimp only tanks.


There are some fish that are reported to eat Hydra and Planaria but they will also eat baby shrimp. I suppose just like getting fish to eat algae, you will need to keep them pretty hungry.


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## milalic

Article is very good. I have use larger doses that what Matpat recommends and have had no problems. In fact hydra dies within hours. I did a water change after 24hrs.

This article has been very useful. Persons in different forums have been pointed to it and have use it.


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## modster

has anyone tried it with CRS?


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## MatPat

modster said:


> has anyone tried it with CRS?


Yes, I used about 0.4 grams in a 29g CRS tank with no ill effects. The CRS are still breeding.


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## yum

I need some feedback regarding the use of fenbendazole. I dosed my tank tonight with an estimated .2 grams for my 20 gallon tank. Many of you mentioned how insoluble the medication is and so I mixed it in .1 gram batches in a shaker bottle with some tank water. I shook each batch for more than 5 minutes each but it seemed to barely dissolve. I poured it anyways and I can see the white granules coating the plant leaves, etc.

I expected the planaria to drop dead right away but they seem to be crawling around without any effect. What gives? Is it because it was not completely dissolved? Did any of you experience the same thing? Will the granules eventually dissolve in the tank?

The plus side is that it doesn't look like any of the fish or shrimp seem affected by the fenbendazole. I have guppies, snails, RCS, ottos and pygmy cories.

I am not running any filtration but just added a propeller style pump in the tank tonight.

I am planning on monitoring the effectiveness of this for 24 hour hours and then adding additional meds. What do you think? 

Feedback please. Thanks.


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## MatPat

Fenbendazole does not dissolve in water very well at all. I tried the same thing you did and pre-mixed it in a small container. I must have shook the container for 10 minutes and it still did not dissolve. You will have white granules in the tank but mine have always disappeared by the next morning. It does not have an immediate effect on the Planaria and seems to take 12-24 hours to be effective. It takes 24-48 hours to be effective against Hydra at the 0.1gm dose.


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## starsunmoon

very helpful ! I am battling these things right now, !! I am going to the store today to buy what I can find with this info . I oray it works, my worms do not look' like the flat worm, but I have to get rid of them !!!! thanxs for the info !!!


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## yum

Thanks for the advice. The first dose got rid of 90% of the planaria and it took a few days. I just added a tiny bit more to the water last night to get the last few guys. No change in behavior in the fish or the shrimp. I have also observed the shrimp fry and noticed they were behaving normally. No water changes performed. Kudos to this article and the contributors!


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## vinman

Fenbendazole can be bought as a liquid under the name Panacur or just ask for liquid Fenbendazole It mixes very easily with water. You can get it at a Vet, reptile show or Pigeon/bird supply store . You can also find it through the Internet. I use this stuff for my reptiles as a dewormer.


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## Sunstar

I've just treated the tank with about 0.15
grams of panacur, the tank's a 25 gallon. I am erring on the side of caution. will it work at this dosage?


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## SpongeEva

This is really interesting. All the sites about tank critters I've come across say hydras are harmless, BUT I always noticed how my apple snails seemed to be 'stung' when they touch/slide over a hydra. I've seen it close up; I have had lots of hydra in my tanks. Sometimes the snails got a little swelling on their antennae where they touched the hydra that went down after a few days.

Hmm, if it hurt an apple snail... think of what it could do to a sensitive little shrimpy? 

I dont actually have hydra anymore. I had so many so I just scraped the glass everyday, which pretty much got rid on them? It might of been other things too. Now I have HUNDREDS of copepods/ostracods, little white wormy things, and some planaria.


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## armedbiggiet

milalic said:


> Article is very good. I have use larger doses that what Matpat recommends and have had no problems. In fact hydra dies within hours. I did a water change after 24hrs.
> 
> This article has been very useful. Persons in different forums have been pointed to it and have use it.


does any one know if this is okay on planted shrimp tank?


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## yum

armedbiggiet said:


> does any one know if this is okay on planted shrimp tank?


i've used mine on my el natural planted tank with red cherry shrimp and they don't seem affected at all. i dosed the tank back in August and have not changed the water. all is fine with the shrimps. they are still breeding like crazy and appear active and healthy.

i think that the medicine wears off over time as i noticed a few planaria in the tank recently which i took out with long tweezers. it also greatly controlled my snail population. i still have plenty of MTS and pond snails but they are not in the plague proportions as they were before.

so i'd say this is safe for cherry shrimp. hope this helps


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## Sunstar

I want to say, I used this on the two tanks that were affected. I am unsure, but I think it did kill off my nerite snails I had in the tanks at the time. So I might warn that it is possible to wipe out your nerites. Other than that, not a hydra left. I think I did od by mistake the one tank because the hydra all fell off within an hour of treatment. 

Worked well. Just remove all "pet" snails


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## DonaldmBoyer

I have used dosages of aquarium salt and peroxide to kill off both planaria and hydra in the past without any problems to shrimplets. Just pointing out another potential option......

Nice article, Matt!


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## PLANT^NUT

thanks for the info.


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## Jeff.:P:.

I have tried this in my 20g shrimp tank that house's tiger's, yellow's, mts and some minami's. I followed Matt's procedure with great success. It has been close to a month since the application and I have not seen a single planaria!!!  All the shrimp didn't even wink at the medication. Thanks again for the information!!!


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## nola

thanks for the info!


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## goldfishes

Thanks so much for this article! I have an older betta (4+ years) whose tank became infested with planaria and hydra after a plant purchase (this was before I knew about sterilizing). After just one dose, the planaria and hydra were gone. And my betta didn't have any problems what so ever!


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## Crispino Ramos

I used Safeguard (brand of fenbendazole) today using 100 mg/10 gallons and one of my 7 embers died one hour later.


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## gibbus

i cant find fenbendazole here can mebendazole be used with shrimps too?


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## mayanjungledog

I notice that this thread is over a year old, but it was linked to from a different forum. Great information! Thank you for the great advice on hydra / planaria eradication. I noticed hydra in my 10 gallon RCS and tiger shrimp tank recently, but was a little hesitant to try fenbendazole because I have one month old baby otocinclus and MTS in the tank. After a couple of weeks of debate, I took the plunge and tried it last night. I've seen a range of doses, and I decided to go conservatively. I used liquid Panacur, which is a 100 mg/ml suspension. I used a dose of 25 mg (0.25 ml) per 10 gallon, mixed it in about a cup of tank water, then used a syringe to apply the diluted mixture to the affected plants and glass directly. The water turned cloudy pretty quickly, and the hydra almost immediately went limp. It is now about 15 hours later and the water is crystal clear again and most of the hydra are gone. There are a few hydra still attached to the glass, but they're limp and hanging upside down. There are no casualties as of yet (I'm knocking on wood). Baby otos, shrimps and MTS are all as happy as can be. I am not sure if I should re-dose in a few days or a week or so, or if this one low dose is adequate for complete eradication. I'm going to wait another 12 - 24 hours to see what happens. We shall see...


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## dianalynn

Thank you so much for this info. I've been fishkeeping for many years and recently had my first experience with Hydra infestation. The Hydra bloomed out of control within just a few days and killed off most of my shrimpletts. I came across your article looking for a solution that was safe for my shrimp and rasboras. I found Safeguard containing fenbendazole and used the measured dosage in your article and [smilie=b:VIOLA...The next morning no Hydra and no harm to shrimp or rasboras :bounce: It's been a few weeks now and everything is going strong and no sign of hydra.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge.


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## Cocobid

I used it to treat white worms & hydra. The tank has adult and baby shrimp + rasboras. Used a small amount did not measure my scale does not go that low. However the small amount did the trick. Personally I think less is a good thing when used on a shrimp tank. Waited about a week in between treatment. Had no losses. 
Caution with snails is extremely important. Removed my Apple & Nerites before treatment. Unfortunatly did not seem to bother the pond snails.... 
Did water changes during treatment. It works.The original post here is one of the first I read when starting the search for a solution, in the end this was the best!!!


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## PPL

Hi!

Whats with planaria eggs? Pancur kills them also? Anyone have planaria after 8!! weeks after treatment?


sorry for my english


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## CRS Fan

I just used 15mg/1.5ml of liquid Panacur in my 15 gallon heavily planted Blue Pearl shrimp tank. The few planaria weren't my concern, but I started having a surge of hydra and then decided to dose. I've used the powdered form b/4 and this was WAY easier (the dry form takes forever to micronize and then dissolve into solution). 

I have personally used this link to another fish forum that I also belong to.

I am a firm believer in this product !

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## rs79

Would it make more sense to dissolve the stuff in 10cc of alcohol, which, presumably it will dissolve in, then use only 1cc (or whatever). That might make the measuring easier and more accurate. Good to know there's something that kills hydra though, that's always been a thorny issue.


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## snail_chen

wow, this is exactly the solution that I am looking for my hydra infestation!

BTW, will any d-wormer work? I found 
a product named D-Worm Liquid Wormer in Petsmart.

But its active ingredient is Piperazine (Dipiperazine Sulfate).

Will it work?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi snail_chen,

If it doesn't have the same ingredients who knows? Do you really want to take a chance?


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## yum

Thought I would chime in with my observations in my El Natural set up after my last post 8/14/2008.

I haven't dosed my tank since the first post and have since had the planaria come back to plague proportions. I was disgusted with the little buggers but decided to just let them be. It took a good long while for them to come back.

I also commented before how the dosing seemed to really impact the snail population as well. They have also staged a good comeback. They are not a nuisance and/or out of control in population.

Throughout the experience I have not noticed any adverse results from using fenbendazole to my guppies or cherry shrimp.

I did have a very pleasant surprise recently: I purchased 3 female bettas and have been observing them over the past 2 weeks. 1 was isolated within 2 days to her own tank for being over aggressive. The other 2 have been quite a treat to watch. One is growing big and fat from eating all the flake and mini-wafer food but the other is pure predator. She wants nothing to do with the man made foods. I see her actively scouring the gravel and occasionally diving down to wrestle and devour something. Also I haven't spotted a single planaria for the past 2 days which is very strange for my tank. I highly suspect that she has been hunting them all down. I did see her with an adult male shrimp in her mouth but after struggling with it for a minute she spit him back out after she figured he was too big to swallow. Both bettas seem to have figured out what is food and what isn't in the tank by now and don't really go after the shrimp anymore. The shrimp likewise have quickly learned to respect the bettas as a threat and scatter when they get within striking distance.

I'll let you know if I spot any more planaria in the days to come but female bettas may be a somewhat viable planaria solution for some tanks.


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## ridgerunrbunny

snail_chen said:


> wow, this is exactly the solution that I am looking for my hydra infestation!
> 
> BTW, will any d-wormer work? I found
> a product named D-Worm Liquid Wormer in Petsmart.
> 
> But its active ingredient is Piperazine (Dipiperazine Sulfate).
> 
> Will it work?


Just rambling on, for what it's worth. . .

You would probably have to try it. Most anthelminics are specific in animals. Piperazine is mostly given for round worms and is usually given to puppies as a first wormer. Safe Guard has been around for as long as I can remember. I used to give it to my horses, dogs, sheep, goats, until I found D.E. I now use Ivermectin on the meat eaters and D.E. in the sheep. Ivermectin is used for just about every parasite known, inside and out. It is the active ingredient in Heart worm medications, gets rid of ticks, fleas, etc. It can be absorbed through the skin so, injections, or by mouth applications are not always necessary. It is very concentrated so I think one would have to be extremely careful. (I mis diluted once and gave my cat too big a dose and did not see her for a full day) I also found it interesting that it is only found in one place on earth. Japan, in the soil. Any animal in the area has no parasites, whatsoever at all. None, nada, zip, zilch.


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## Mellophonemafia

Looks like someone is takin a run to the pet store today. I have been flabber tasted why my shrimps aren't breeding. Thank goodness I put my baby shrimp I just got in a breeder tank


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