[Steve Pituch]

First photo i've ever seen of a Hydra. I think they will kill baby fish. I think larger fish may eat them. That's something you've got to get rid of. How did you get it?

Steve Pituch

 

[Steve Pituch]

OK, well I didn't mean to alarm you. Take a lot of pictures as at least to me they are rare. They will devour fish up to 3/16 inch long, so livelearers are generally not threatened. However, they shoot out those tentacles and hit their prey like a harpoon, then drag it to their stomach and become very squat while they are digesting their prey. Some gouramies will eat them if they are not fed. I would think flag fish might eat them too. They get around pretty well also with that one sticky foot and the tentacles they slowly somersalt to their destination. Apparently a big water change sometimes kills them. Five grains per gallon of ammonium nitrate willl kill them too but we don't want to put ammonium in the tank unless you remove all the fish, since ammonia kills.

Most of this was in the Innes book, 1966 ed.

Steve Pituch

 

[Steve Pituch]

Well the Innes book was written in the 1930s, so there are probably better ways. Actually the instructions say remove the fish for the water change, but remove "nothing" for the ammonium nitrate treatment. Very strange. If the ammonium was less then a few tenths of a ppm it probably would be alright. Amonium nitrate is a standard ingredient of fertilizer but I don't know if you can easily buy it. I would check at the Plant Nursery. I think they might have blown up the Oklahoma federal building with it. According to Walstad, plants prefer ammonium to nitrates so it shouldn't hurt the plants. I'm thinking that a water change and a chloramine disabler will make the water safe for fish. Actually I don't know if ammonium is bad for fish, but if it was converted to ammonia it would be deadly. I also don't know how to convert grains to grams and what the ammonium concentration would be.

Steve

 

[Steve Pituch]

Dave,

My old Innes book says Three-spot, Blue or Pearl Gouramies.

Steve Pituch