Bad Hydroid?

[Rosseau]

Hello,

I haven't gotten a response as to the ID of these creatures on this rock in the invert forum.

There is considerably higher traffic here and I was hoping someone could teld me if these are unwanted hydroids.

Thanks.

[Rosseau]

14 views.... can I bump my own thread?

[plyr58]

looks like hydroids to me. is there any such thing as good hydroids anyways?

[demonsp]

Remove frag and wirebrush them to infinity and beyond.

[Logzor]

Good luck getting those off without killing the zoo's.

I burnt some hydroids with a lighter until it was too hot to handle. They all came back in a week or so.

[Rosseau]

Hmm...

Thanks.

Will they only spread within the rocks they can touch?

I mean, will they start showing up all over my tank if not dealt with promptly?

[buffalo123]

Time for a cure for these pest. will copperband eat them????'
It only takes a few loose ones to start a colony

[GoingPostal]

I have a different kind but mine only spread where they touch. I have some rocks I've isolated in the back chambers as rubble and haven't seen them pop up anywhere new. Good luck killing them, I've been plucking with tweezers. Thinking about superglueing or epoxying over them.

[ryan_paskadi]

I like hydroids there cool....I have several variety in my tank and have had no problems with them....personally I like the natural look and think the more variety of life the better.

[Rosseau]

Originally posted by ryan_paskadi
I like hydroids there cool....I have several variety in my tank and have had no problems with them....personally I like the natural look and think the more variety of life the better.

I'm going to keep researching these ones.

I actually like them too and the zoanthids don't seem to mind them (yet at least).

If I can find a way to keep them safely they might stay. Again, I have a lot of research to do...

[Salamander]

I've had them and they did spread in my tank.

They "root" deep into the rock and scrubbing, scraping, plucking, covering, gluing never worked. The only way (after many attempts) I found to get rid of them was to take the rock out and use a masonry drill bit to drill them out. The hole(s) that result are great for gluing in frags too!

[slow_leak]

I have the same thing for many years and only recently viewed them as a problem. They did destroy a fromosa coral.

Things I have tried to eliminate them.....................
1) Kalk paste through wide bore syringe
this kills most things but just insults the tan hydroids
2) cover the infected area with grey epoxy.
mildly successful, some will creep to edges and regrow faster.

More recently I removed a rock and put it in the sump for one week to see if lack of light will eliminate them. I also tried three days of lights out for main aqaurium with refugium lights on.

It is clear the hydroids are photosynthetic and do not open up with the lights out. I do not know how long it will take to kill them with this method though.

[Rosseau]

That sounds like on hell of a battle.


I've actually just left them.

This probably isn't a smart idea though I'm hoping they aren't able to jump between rocks. I'm assuming that they are ultimately able to do so, how else would they spread on a real reef?

They are on a small rock covered in zoanthids which I got out of the "$15 tank" at a LFS.

They are probably the fastest growing thing in my tank.


I would guess that their colony has increased 400% since I posted.

[slow_leak]

...

[slow_leak]

I really think it would be wise to remove that rock entirely from tank. I have a little everywhere so I may lose this battle without a tear down of the tank.

I'm going on the assumption that periods of darkness will slow them down.

They are nice looking in small amount. I have started a thread earlier this year on this topic.

Some Bozo claimed he had an organism that eats them other than rusty angels, of which I have two but does not have the correct permits to sell them.

I also have spoge like thing that is taking over as well but that another story.

[Rosseau]

Thanks.

I think I should try and salvage some zoanthid polyps from the rock and throw the whole assembly either in a dark spot in my sump, or completely out of my tank to be safe.

[Frick-n-Frags]

it is the potentially bad hydroid.

the really small clear ones don't seem to cause people problems.
I have always seen a small colony here or there on my LR, but they never get rolling, just stay at a few or few dozen stalks

also, i don't think they are photosynthetic, in which case, a sump visit would help them, not hurt them.(might be wrong tho...)



IF that was my little zoanthid rock, I would get out my ACME wiley coyote instant tomb kit, which consists of one tube of plumber's epoxy heh. I would snip off all the tubes with my sharp little scissors (got some small cheap, but nice, haircut scissors for the reef) and slab a small sheet of epoxy over the whole area. in a couple months the zoos will spread over all of it.

[Anemone]

The only way I was able to conquer these was to use a flat-bladed screwdriver to dig beneath the various patches and basically pry them off the rock. Luckily, live rock is usually pretty soft, so this wasn't too difficult.

Other methods I tried (which were not successful) - kalk paste, forceps (plucking), wire brushing and sealing (epoxy). Good luck.

Kevin

[IndyReefMan]

I, too, would get that rock out ASAP. There is a good chance that those hydriods will spread everywhere like wildfire. That happened to me with that same hydriod. I thought that they looked cool on one of my rocks... until they spread to every rock in my tank. Now, it is a weekly battle with a toothbrush with no end in sight.

[slow_leak]

I am certain these are photosynthetic as well as suspension feeders.

I am going to give up if a visit to the sump does not work.

[slow_leak]

I left the lights off for three days with no indirect sunlight during the day. On the fourth day I returned home and found all the corals have opened up nicely, however the tan hydroid did not open at all anywhere and it black and gray in appearance.

I have yet to see how it will come back. I am now doing a water change and pulling the dead or dying material out with a 1/4" OD PE tube.

Also I found about 5 majano that appear to have move4d upward. I will kalk them at this time too. I will also put kalk past on the dying tan hydroid. though it had little effect when they were doing well.

I place a rock in the sump for one week that was affected as well and does not have any traces of live tan hydroid.

It looks as if this will be a monthly cycle for some time unless I see ill effect on the corals.

[Rosseau]

Hmmm, So you turned off your display lights for three days? You are suggesting that the corals are more tolerant of this than the hydroids?

[slow_leak]

I took some digital pictures that I will try to post this weekend.

Not a suggestion but an observation on the hydroid. It survived extremely poorly with 72 hours of darkness. I got the idea initially from the thread of the month on www.reefkeeping .com magazine earlier this year.

I spent the month making ideal conditions and feeding corals well, and then removing the lights. I had little cyano expect for on some rocks. Some small amounts of hair algae present died. It did niot effect the bubble like agae in small amounts around the tank.

From this I assume the tan hydroid is photosynthetic and does not have the reserves in energy necessary to survive without light for short periods. I did place thin kalk past on the dead portions to try to prevent them from regrowing.

My plan is to cycle 3 days per month or every six weeks to reduce this hydroid further. I am certain it will make a comeback without several more cycles. I have seen a few chains that were unaffected.

I hope during the next month the organism spends it energy recovering instead of growing, so the next cycle will be more effective.

I am not suggesting you do the same thing with a small patch somewhere. I was at the beginning stages of losing tank to this pest.

I meant to read phosphates by the low range hanna meter after the lights out period but applied kalk and thought results would be skewed. Normally phosphates are 0.05 to 0.08 ppm by the low range spectrophotometer.

[Frick-n-Frags]

that's brutal: photosynthetic hydroids yeowch!

[Tajjo]

Gool luck with those they keep coming back in my set up