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FAQs on the Hydrozoan Compatibility &
Control Related Articles:
Hydrozoans,
Cnidarians, Fire Corals,
Stylasterines, Hydrozoan Jellies,
Related FAQs: Hydrozoans 1,
Hydrozoans 2,
Hydrozoan Identification, Hydrozoan
Behavior, Hydrozoan Selection,
Hydrozoan Systems, Hydrozoan Feeding,
Hydrozoan Disease, Hydrozoan
Reproduction, Medusoids/Jellies (Ctenophores, some Hydrozoans,
Scyphozoans): Jelly
Identification, Jelly Behavior,
Jelly Compatibility, Jelly Selection,
Jelly Systems, Jelly Feeding,
Jelly Disease, Jelly Reproduction,
Fire Corals,
Lace Corals,
Stinging-celled Animals | 
Some Hydrozoans can even sting echinoderms.
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Hydroid Myrionema 01/20/09 Hi Crew, <Aloha Clay> I
have a problem with what I believe are hydroids (myrionema) and would
like to get your advice. The photos that I have seen online appear to
match what is in my 90 gallon reef tank. There are 4 or 5 small patches
on a large rock that is a little larger than a football. The rock is
located on top of 2 equally large rocks forming a cave so it would be
easy to pull. I have not observed the hydroids on any other rock. From
research on your site and others, the options for controlling or killing
these are not great. Since the rock is easily removed, should I just
pull the rock from the tank to prevent further spread? <This is one
option. But it's an extreme one. If it were me, I would take the rock
out and use a Dremel saw (or a screw driver and a hammer) to chisel off
the parts of the rock with the hydroids. Then rinse the rock off very
well with salt water (preferably from your tank-- you could even do a
water change at the same time). You can't just scrub them off or else
they'll grow back. And if you don't rinse the rock really well, some
fragments of the hydroids might remain and grow back.> I have 2 nice
leathers attached to it that I can frag and salvage. However, there is
very nice GSP colony that I fear will be lost since one of the hydroid
colonies has begun to overgrow it. If I remove the rock, what damage
will this do to my biological filtration? The rock represents probably
15-20 percent of my total rock. The tank is 1.5 years old and I haven't
added anything for 6 months so I am not sure how they got into the tank.
Can these creatures lie dormant in the rock for long periods? Any advice
you can provide would be greatly appreciated. <Do try the method
described above-- might spare your rock and your corals. ;-)>
Thanks, Clay <De nada, Sara M.> Digitate
Hydroids. Danger? Control? 11/29/08 Hello WWM Crew.
I recently added some Live Rock into my tank and noticed that i have a
few Digitate Hydroids. I have searched the internet to find out about
them and i have read that these give a nasty sting to corals.
<That's not always true. It depends on the type of coral and the type of
hydroids. Some hydroids are harmless.> Several other websites have
advised to get rid of these as soon as possible, several different
methods have been mentioned, including Kalkwasser Paste, Injecting with
Vinegar. The problem i have is that the piece of Live Rock they are on
is full of Polyps and i do not want to kill these. <Are you sure
the hydroids are stinging your coral? You should be able to see signs of
this on the corals. It will look as if they've been "burned" or they
will be closed up around the hydroids. If you don't notice any obvious
signs that the hydroids are stinging the coral, I wouldn't risk doing
more harm than good by trying to kill them.> Some other sites have
said that these creatures thrive on high nitrates and phosphates and
therefore when my tank has gone through the cycle that these will just
die, is this true? <This is a possibility. In any case, theses kinds
of animals usually come in waves and will likely die off on their own
eventually.> I can't seem to find much information on these, if they
are so bad, surely there would be more information out there?. <I
wouldn't worry about them unless you can see that they're doing damage.>
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and any help or advice will
be appreciated. Kind Regards Jo <De nada, Sara M.>
Re: Digitate Hydroids attn Sara 12/02/08 Thank you kindly
for your response. 12/01/08 The only reason i noticed the hydroids is
because the polyps were all shriveled and grey and never opened,
<Oh, that's no good.> which makes me think that these hydroids have
killed them. I don't really know what to do next, I have been told that
the hydroids can multiply and take over. I am not sure about adding any
corals now, as I do not want to kill them. <Unfortunately, if the
hydroids are growing right up against your corals, I don't know what you
could do to kill them that wouldn't also hurt the coral. What kind of
polyps are the coral? If they are soft corals, you could try removing
the coral from the rock...> Any advice would be appreciated
<Reducing nutrients and pollutants in your system is always a good
thing... so if there are ways you can do this, it can't hurt.>
Thanks Jo <Best, Sara M.> Hydroids: growing
problem..., control 11/29/08 Hi there! I am about
to give up my fight against brown hydroids. Read some nice article on
how to kill them with calcium hydroxide paste (Kalk) but it doesn't
work. Tried brushing and even crushing a layer of LR surface (a few
millimeters at least) with coral cutters. Nothing works. <One "last"
thing you can try is NaOH mixed with Kalk. See here:
http://www.asira.org/killingaiptasiaxeniaetc > They seem to borrow in
the rock and retract several millimeters within the LR. I read that
Berghia Nudibranch are useless against them. I also just read that
limpets, and possibly keyhole limpets in particular, could eat them. Is
it really worth a try? <I don't see why not. I'd try to get as many
as possible of them with the NaOH... then maybe see if the limpets can
help keep them from coming back.> What specific limpet species should
I use to try eradicate the brown hydroids? <I honestly don't know...
but these critters will vary from individual to individual (not merely
from species to species). I would suggest you ask Morgan Lidster at
Inland aquatics. If anyone would know, he would.
http://www.inlandaquatics.com/> Otherwise the only other option I see
is changing all my LR, but that is quite an expense and a lot of trouble
and in the end there could be a few left somewhere under a coral (even
as a medusa...). <Oh no... don't do that! Try these other things
first. If all else fails, I suggest giving up. Seriously, in my
experience, sometimes giving up sometimes works eventually. ;-)>
Thanks for your advice! Dominique <Best, Sara M.>
Re: Hydroids: growing problem... 11/29/08 Thanks a lot for
the NaOH tip. Will try it soon (will talk to the pharmacist -who knows-
otherwise will order from Fisher sc.). <Oh, no need to speak to a
pharmacist... just look for "Red Devil" drain cleaner... it is, more or
less, pure NaOH. I get mine on eBay.
http://shop.ebay.com/_W0QQ_nkwZredQ20devilQ20lye Just... again, as
the site says, be VERY careful with it. It DOES burn.> Very
interesting site too Asira.com, didn't know it. <Thanks... is my own
personal creation. ;-)> And for the limpets I already sent an e-mail
to Morgan Lidster. <Ah, good... he is one of the "best kept secrets"
in our hobby... likely more knowledgeable than any of us here, save Mr.
Fenner. But unfortunately, he is a bit of a recluse. If you ever go to a
MACNA, I highly suggest you seek him out... just be sure to carry a good
bottle scotch with you (his weakness apparently).><<Heeeee! You DO know
Morg! RMF>> Thanks again! Dominique <De nada, Sara M.>
Re: Hydroids: growing problem... 12/03/08 Hi! Does Sodium
hydroxide precipitate Phosphate (like Calcium hydroxide [Kalk] does)?
<Good question... I imagine that it does to some extent and for some
phosphate. But I certainly wouldn't use it for that.> Thanks!
Dominique <Best, Sara M.>
Hydroid, ID, control... 11/14/08 Hello all!
<Mariusz> I was hoping you could give me an ID (ie.
scientific/common name) on this Hydroid. It was taken from:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hyzoanidfaq.htm (i have also attached the
same pic). I have a bunch of these in 120 tank with about 140lbs of
live rock. <Mmmm... can't tell the species from this small pic>
I recently took all fish out of the tank to let run fallow after a
parasitic infest. Most corals have been removed (for other reasons).
All that is left are a few mushrooms and leathers, peppermint
shrimp, hermits. The tank has been running fallow for 6 weeks
now and I'm in no rush to put my livestock back in. Also for 6 weeks
I haven't put any food in the tank either, it's just been running
with Deltec skimmer (which hasn't produced much as I have almost no
livestock and no feeding). So questions: 1) are these hydroids
a danger to fish? not sure how potent the sting is. <Could be...
if they're unaware, get too much exposure> 2) How can I rid these
with out manual removal as I've been trying for almost a year. Not
sure if these guys are worms of some sort and if de-wormer will
work, possibly Prazi or other. Is there any biological alternative?
Without proper ID its been difficult moving forward towards a
solution. Thanks <Can be very difficult... frustrating up to
the point, extreme, of making it reasonable to bleach/kill all LR,
start over with some new LR material placed over, amongst, using the
killed rock as base... Otherwise, you might be lucky to discover a
predator (perhaps an Opistobranch...), but even here, they wouldn't
eliminate all... "So many chickens, so many foxes"... Bob
Fenner, who would bleach, nuke> |
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Re: Specific tank questions... Hydroid contr. – 07/14/08 What
would a LFS do with the rock with hydroids? Just wondering. Matthew
Harless <Mmm, a few approaches to control... nutrient limitation,
predation, poisons... Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/hyzoancompfaq.htm BobF>
Re: Specific tank questions I'm sorry I meant why would they want
to take them from me? You suggested that I sell/trade the hydroid
infested rock to a dealer and I was just curious why they would want
it. Not an important question, I was just curious. Matthew Harless
<Mmm, that profit motive thing... "One persons noisome Mushrooms is
another persons income"...the future belongs to commerce. B>
Re: Specific tank questions I misunderstood. I thought you meant
to sell them the brown hydroids (myrionema), but you were talking about
the Corallimorphs. Thanks for the clarification. Matthew Harless
<Ahh! Thank you. B> |
Hydroids, control – 6/4/08 Hello again Crew, <Hello>
After a hair algae explosion, I now have an explosion of hydroids (see
pic below). <No picture attached…> They are covering all of the
surfaces inside the aquarium and sump. I don't mind them because they
are simply demonstrating the "fertility" of my aquarium. <Rather the
polluted state. Plague levels of a single organism are never signs of a
healthy ecosystem; biodiversity is the key.> They're very small, so
should I be worried about them stinging? <Yes. Many hydroids pack a
wallop.> Will my snails and/or hermit crabs eat them and/or the hair
algae? <No. Careful control of nutrient, overfeeding, etc. will thin
the herd.> Well, I have to catch the bus. Thanks in Advance,
<Welcome> Random Aquarist <Specific Benjamin>
Help with Hydroid myrionema. - 04/14/08 Hello Again. I
believer you are correct on what i have (hydroid myrionema). We
have a hard time getting rid of it. <Yes... can be a real bugger>
I have searched on line for remedies. With my tank being 200 gal.
reef safe with the following (blue tang/unicorn tang/clown tang/2
yellow tangs/cleaner wrasse/Lunare wrasse/blue damsel/Banggai
cardinal/pajama cardinal/blood red Hawkfish and a mated pair of
green mandarin gobies) a clean up crew and we have feather
dusters/tube anemones/polyps/frogspawn/leather corral and mushrooms.
We do water changes for nitrate levels, and have decided to move to
the Zeo system. However i wanted to know what this Panacur is all
about. On line people have used it to get rid of the hydroids, but
does it work, and will it help me. Thanks MC <Mmmm, what are the
active ingredients in this product? Bob Fenner.
Re: Help with Hydroid myrionema. 4/16/08 April 15, 2008
Hi again. I'm sorry the product people are using to get rid of
Hydroid Myrionema is Panacur, the main active ingredients is
Fenbendazole. <Ahh!> I wanted to know if i could use it?
<Mmm, well... it may well kill off a good deal of the "wormy" life
in the system... is an anthelmintic... and most all marine systems,
natural and aquarium have substantial worm faunas... So, at the
least I'd have a good deal of pre-made water ready, be aware that
changes may need to be made... successively, along with the use of
chemical filtrants, change of mechanical media, cleaning of
skimmer/s...> But I wanted to make sure i don't kill off my tank.
<You are wise here> What do you suggest? I'm at my wits end with
this hydroid, (working on it for over 9 months) and if it weren't
for my mated pair of green mandarin gobies, which are doing very
well, i would kill of my rock and start over. <Mmm... I would
try some biological controls first myself... or move all the
"desired" livestock elsewhere for a few weeks, while using the
"de-wormer". BobF> |
Hydroid jellyfish -01/29/2008 Hi, I have a lot of these in my
tank glass. I try to use the magnet cleaner to scrape these off, but
their number never seems to reduce. Is there a way to remove these
from the tank? Thanks in advance. <Patience and time work best. These
things typically have population boom and bust cycles. You can help
things along by scraping them off with a razor blade (if a glass tank),
and suck them up with a water change.> Regards, Kash <Best,
Sara M.>
Hydro ID and help – 1/04/08 Hi guys, Thanks for
maintaining such a wonderful site. I have been visiting this site
for over 4 years now and have always found to be a great source of
information. I need a little help though, and would appreciate it if
you guys could give me a hand. <Will gladly render my input>
I'm looking for a positive ID on this little critter (see attached).
After exhausting all resources here at WWM on Hydrozoans, I went
looking for better classifications of these guys and I found a great
site for identification:
http://www.ville-ge.ch/mhng/hydrozoa/hydrozoa-directory.htm. I think
I've come to the conclusion that this is probably Class Hydrozoa,
Order leptomedusae Family Malagazziidae <Appears so to me as
well> I only see them in the Hydroid colony stage. Hopefully I'll
never see the medusa stage ;) <Is, will be there in time...
likely being removed by your mechanical filtration> Anyhow,
looking through the articles at WWM I'm trying to find out how to
really get rid of these guys. Everything I've seen at WWM says
starve them out and remove the nutrient rich environment. My
question then becomes "what nutrients?" <In boldest statement of
what can be easily measured, soluble nitrate, phosphate...> What
do these guys depend on to grow? <Mmm... some chemical base,
micro-fauna... a dearth of predators, competitors> Although, the
appearance of these things seem to correlate with my use of
Koralle-VM from Brightwell Aquatics. I have since changed to
Coral-Vital from Marc Weiss Companies, Inc to see if it will have a
different effect. <I would drop this Weiss product... and most
all of its ilk> They also seem to be accompanied by this brown
looking mush on the live rock. I have an 11 Gal Aqua-via tank,
with an Aqua C remora Protein skimmer with Maxi Jet 1200, 25lbs LR
and a 3in sand bed. I only have a couple of zoo's and a single clown
fish. Not really much of a bio-load here. The Aqua C should be more
than enough of a protein skimmer for this tank/load. Any ideas on
how to starve these guys out? Any specifics would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks, Jas <Mmm... well... I might try a
small shrimp (or two)... perhaps Lysmata wurdemanni... in the hopes
of them eating up the hydroids. Bob Fenner> | 
|
Digitate Hydroids, contr. 10/3/07 I have 20+ Digitate
Hydroids in my 29 gallon reef tank. The population is getting to a
point where the numbers are starting to worry me. I've had a
population explosion of them over the past month. Most disturbing is
that this month has been the most solid on husbandry for the tank as
well. The tank is about 6 months old, has weekly 20% water changes
and is skimmed fairly heavily. They are really a concern because I
have had corals affected by them, and have actually had some tissue
loss due to the them as well. <Not good> Manual removal is
extremely difficult for most because of placement. Kalkwasser
injection is also very difficult because some of these guys are
really small. I've superglued over them; used tweezers on them;
attempted to Kalk smother them. I've dealt with pests, but I'm
completely at a loss at ridding the tank of these guys. Searching
the internet high and low I have found little in the way of tried
and true recommendations. I've read the population can wane with
nutrient control, but in no way do I consider my tank nutrient rich.
Do they have a natural predator? <A few... but these can be very
species specific...> Is there a treatment? <Mmm, not ones that
are very satisfying... removing the rock... letting it dry... to
kill off...> I'm worried that if I don't get this under control
and the population continues growing that I may need to start at
square one again. Regards, Jarred in Portland, OR <A pic
please (close-up, well-resolved)... and where did the rock originate
(which sea, island group?)... Bob Fenner>
Re: Digitate Hydroids, contr. 1/20/08 Unfortunately, I'm not
sure where the rock is from. Somewhere in the Pacific I believe.
<Okay> Attached the best picture I could get of one of the
digitate hydroids. This one is dead, but when alive they look
thread-like like most of the pictures you'd see on the net. Thank
you! <Mmm, I would try removing all these... manually... take the
rock out, systematically scrub, scrape all off at the base...
rinse... replace the rock in the tank. Hope. Bob Fenner> | 
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Stinging Hydroids HELP w/ pred. control - 4/7/07
Once again I'm back for expert advice.. <Okay> I've done some
extensive reading on stinging hydroids on your site. In fact, I've
found my pests picture here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hyzoanidfaq.htm Article: Bad boyz-
hydroids 12/30/03 You've mentioned in other articles that these have
few reef safe predators. <Yes... though these are often quite
"species specific"> What would the predators be of the "tube like
coiled at the base" string hydroids ? Nudibranch is one
critter that keeps coming up. <Some species... definitely not
many/all> I have sooo many at this point, scraping them off would
take forever. Thanks, Chris <Well... the path may be long
here... and not one I would take... experimenting blindly... If you want
to go this predator route, FIRST (dang, that's bright), you should
determine as closely as practical, which species of Hydroid you have...
will require the use of reference works, a microscope likely... I'd try
writing some folks on the Net who work in the field of taxonomy, biology
of the Hydrozoans for suggestions here... Bob Fenner>
Re: Starfish and Hydroids? Blue Linckia (Linckia laevigata) Better Left
in the Sea. 2/9/07
<Hello again Travis!> Thanks for the great info, Mich! I'll avoid
the blue Linckia star! <Very good!> Follow-up question:
<Sure.> Would any/all starfish be damaged/irritated by crawling over
rocks covered in hydroids? <Yes, it is possible.> i.e. If my
rocks are mostly covered in hydroids, do I have to rid my tank of them
before I could add any (non-sand-dwelling) starfish? <Mmm, no, but
again not for the reasons you state. I am hesitant to recommend any
starfish that are of the "rock scrubbing" type which I believe you are
considering. Most just don't do well. Serpent and brittle stars should
be fine. I wouldn't recommend the sand sifting star either, as it will
take out much of the beneficial fauna in the sand bed and then
starve. Hope that helps! -Mich> Travis.
Hydroid control? 1/27/07 Hello...this is Stephanie. <Hi,
Stephanie! GrahamT here.> I am new to nano reefing. <Welcome to
the world of micro.> I have been reading about hydroid problems with
zooanthids, unfortunately, we were too late in saving it. It smelled
pretty bad and didn't look to good. <Unfortunate... sorry for that.>
But, my question....could this problem have spread to our hairy
mushroom? <If you mean, can it spread nearby and sting, yep. If you
mean can it infest the mushroom, then I have to say I'm not familiar
with them moving about. I am somewhat inexperienced in the hydroid
"field" but in my research (
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hydrozoans.htm and all links...)I learned
that they need somewhat higher concentrations of nutrient to thrive.
Also, they are usually "fixed" to the rock.> It looks good but has a
few areas that look similar to the zoanthid. <Am I missing a past
email? What did the Zoo look like?> Please help.....
<Trying... -GrahamT> Hydroid control? <follow-up> 1/28/07
Thank you for the quick response, Graham T. <Welcome, though not
immensely helpful, I suppose.> I made an error when I put Zoanthid,
I should have put hydroid. The patch on the mushroom, or I should
say on the rock is grayish and looks velvety. The other spot on the Zoo
was actually "moving" little things you could barely see. So, somewhat
different but I am worried I will miss this and then it will be too
late. <I want to be sure not to mis-diagnose. Is there a chance you
could send a pic (under 400K) so I can get a look at the critter?>
OR.....could this be fungus? The rest of my life rock doesn't show any
areas like this one. Overreacting or playing it safe? <Always
playing it safe... -GrahamT.> Thanks Steph
Hydroids infesting my Zoanthids? Dear Crew, <Russell>
Here's a new one for me...maybe you also? <Could be> Over the
holidays my Zoa's (four frags, about six months old and previously
healthy) closed up and became infested with little critters. My Ca and
dKH dipped mildly when I was out of town for three days, but otherwise
the tank was stable.. (need to get a calcium reactor, my 2-part dosing
pump is temperamental). These parasite-like things attach to the
closed polyps and are too small to photograph accurately. They look like
a small (1-3mm) hydroid-ish creatures, having a clear stalk with small
white-brown tentacles. They start like white little dots and grow pretty
fast, spreading to all colonies and show tiny tentacles. I had hydroids
on my tank walls last year, but they went away after a month or so.
<Typical> Last week I removed the frags (some had already grown on
to surrounding rocks) and did a 15 minute dip in a gallon of tank water
with a salinity of 1.015 and over a tablespoon of Lugol's... at the same
time blasting the frags with a turkey baster. This seemed to do the
trick upon reintroduction... most polyps re-opening and looking good.
<Good> Then, over the last two days, the little critters came back
so last night I re-dipped the frags- same as above except for 30 minutes
AND I followed this with a flash RO/DI water dip. I also pruned and
discarded the remaining small amount of new growth- polyps left behind
on my LR (figuring these small stragglers were still infected and
causing the problem). <Mmm... much more likely to be residual
animals in your system... really need to dip, move the Zoanthids to
another setting> This morning the frags, for the most part, are open
with no obvious critters. Could these be hydroids?? <Oh yes>
I've searched this site (and others) and am confident it is not "reef
pox" which is more pustular, ulcerative in nature. If these apparent
parasites come back, any other ideas???? <Mmm, plenty>
Interestingly, I also recently picked three Nudibranchs off the Zoa
frags. I don't think the infestation is from Nudi eggs. Also, they are
not Zoa spiders. Thanks, Russell in KY <Hopefully gone for good
this time. Bob Fenner> - Choerodon fasciata & little stinging
hydroids - Dear WWM Crew, I have a 240 Gallon with approximately
70 pounds live rock. On 11-22-02 I added a Harlequin Tuskfish "Tigger"
that had been quarantined for two weeks with no signs of parasites or
other. I have noticed tiny Hydroid jellyfish (polyps) on the glass
(dots with legs). At first I thought this was a really cool find from
the live rock, but a few days ago I noticed spots on the pectoral and
tail fin of Tigger, on closer inspection these spots really appear to be
the Hydroid polyps. Can these polyps attack the fish and be a parasite
of sorts? <Not attack, per se... but if the fish bumps up against
them... sure. But I will just add, as I also have a harlequin tusk, that
spots on the tail are not uncommon. They come and go pretty regularly.>
Tigger's color is bright and is eating well, and does not appear to be
scratching or have any abnormal breathing. <Good deal.> There are not
any other fish in the tank. I am concerned about Tigger's health, the
health of the tank, and about adding any new fish until I am sure these
hydroid polyps are not going to cause a problem. <No fun... you may want
to consider creating a scraper/siphon combination that would allow you
to scape off a hydroid and immediately suck it out of the tank. You
definitely don't want these floating around the tank. You may need to
take more drastic action, I'm sorry to say. Hydroids are a pain - quite
literally.> Your help is greatly appreciated!! Thank You. Jen
Marshall <Cheers, J -- > Removing finger-like hydroids
Stinging hydroids have few natural predators that we can regard as
reef-safe. If you have corals in the tank, it may be difficult to avoid
manual extraction. In the meantime, you could try a stiff bristled
toothbrush tied to the end of a siphon tube so that you could siphon
slowly and scrub at the same time. We need to avoid fragmenting and
spreading them. Bets regards, Anthony> - Hydroid Problems -
Hello. <Hello, JasonC here.> How are you today? <Well, thanks for
asking.> I have a 55gal. tank set-up for a little over a year with a
sebae, two clown perculas, Zoanthid, a hairy mushroom, Sarcophyton,
electric star polyps, various sponges (blue, red candy cane, and
yellow), a green hard coral, 3 crabs, 8 snails, and a velvet damsel. I
have PC lighting 6-65watts, new bulbs every six months whether they need
it or not, CPR Bak Pak II protein skimmer and a calcium reactor. All
have lived happy and healthy in this environment. About three months ago
a friend bought me a sun coral. I quarantined it for three weeks to
ensure it was eating correctly and content. I added the coral and three
to four weeks later I noticed a lot of "feathers" in the tank on all of
the live rock. I am positive it has been identified on your site...
hydroids. <Egads.> I tried the siphoning technique but the base is so
far into the crevices it reproduced 10 fold. My question is how bad can
these things affect my tank? <Well... for their size, they are pretty
potent stingers.> I am afraid they are affecting my Sebae. <Quite
possible.> He is sitting up but he is not taking the food the perculas
bring him. His mouth is open slightly. I feel that if the anemone dies,
the perculas will die also. <Not so, they will be fine.> I have to save
them! <No worries.> I assume the problem is the hydroids because the sun
coral is non toxic. <All corals have the ability to wage chemical
warfare.> I have not used any chemicals in the tank since it was formed.
I tested the water: 440 ppm calcium, NH 0, pH 8.1 alk Normal, NO3 0, NO2
.05. I am sure the NO2 are just a cycle. What can I do to get rid of the
hydroids short of finding a sea dragon, Pteraeolidia ianthina. <Not
really that east due to their size - you may have to extract the rocks
they are on and remove the hydroids with tweezers.> I have not found a
single supplier of them. <The sea dragon? Heavens no... these typically
do very poorly in captivity.> If you can think of a single other reason
for the eating habits of the Sebae please I am open for suggestions.
<Consider more lighting.> My Sebae was a tank split and my tank mimics
the conditions it was raised under. <Lighting as well? Most all anemones
need intense lighting, and yours is likely not intense enough.> Please
help. --Hydroid Hater-Tonia <Cheers, J -- > Threaded
Hydroid? 6/12/04 No emergency here, just trying to better
understand my tank. I have a nice, healthy Devils Hand (Lobophytum)
that at night puts out one or two relatively long (up to 7 inches)
thin fibers that have "off-shoots" about a quarter inch long spaced at
regular intervals. It looks like a tank sized long line fishing rig.
<yikes... this is not actually part of the leather coral, although it
looks like it. I have a strong suspicion here. One of the threaded
hydroids. Does this thing look like a barely
discernable wisp of a thread... and the "branches" like teeth on a
sparse/coarse comb?> The fibers come out of one of the yellow
fingers. Is it trying to feed or is it a defense mechanism. If the
latter, should I avoid placing another coral within its reach? <yes
regardless... keep all other critters away. And if its a hydroid, watch
your arm too... a nasty sting is possible> Many thanks. Your site
has made a material contribution to my 38 gallon reef's growing success.
<no worries my friend... if this is a hydroid, it can be removed (and
future ones can/should be screened by running all new livestock
faithfully through a proper 4 week QT). Anthony> Threaded
Hydroid? II 6/12/04 Many thank you for the id Anthony. I am not
worthy of such expert advice. <we are all on equal footing here my
friend... as aquarists we each have our specialties, and we all evolve
in time> I only found one picture on the web that looks like it, the
"sparse comb" you so aptly describe. How shall I remove it? How about
cutting off the finger it emerges from? <no need to cut the leather,
just look at the base and see if you can see ho well it is anchored
(often appearing like a transparent fleshy plate/base in the case of
this type)> Will it move around the tank if I leave it?
<not too motile> After just 8 months with the reef, I am clearly in
new territory here... Dan <its all a learning process... no worries.
Enjoy the journey. Anthony>
Stinging hydroids 6/15/04
Hi Guys <cheers> Wonder if you can help me. Are there any
species of fish or invertebrate which would feed on stinging hydroids?
I'm having difficulty controlling them in my tank. Thanks and regards
Adrian <while there are many fishes and invertebrates that will
control hydroids... they are not likely to safe with your other fishes
and/or invertebrates (cnidarian feeding Chaetodontids, Asteroid sea
stars, etc.). And if you could ID your species of hydroid and find a
nudibranch, for example, that was an obligate predator... the nudibranch
would soon starve. Your real solution is to get to the root of the
problem (excess nutrients) and not focus on the symptom (hydroids
flaring). Focus on starving them into submission and then polishing them
off with a lite bit of manual control. Improve water changes, be more
aggressive about skimming, increase water flow to get excess
food/particulates exported rather than lingering to feed the hydroids,
etc. Best of luck! Anthony> Digitated
Hydroids Good afternoon crew, <Good day> I posed a question
on the forums last week, and no one really had an answer for me. The
only suggestion I got, was to email you all and see if you had any good
info to share with me. Thank you for any assistance you may provide.
Here is the original post from the Marine Invertebrate forum: Here
is the situation: I currently have 5 of these nasty hydroids (digitated
hydroids). Two of them extend to 4in. at night, two of them extend to
3in., and one of them to about an 1 1/2 inches. Of these five, I can
reach 3 of them (one large, one medium and the small sized one). The
other two are nestled deep into the back of my largest live rock, and
there is no way I can get to them. Even if I was able to move all other
LR and creatures off of it, they are in deep crevices that are barely
wide enough to stick a nail in. Here is my question (which you could
probably guess.. hehe): Does anyone have good experience with
removing these type of hydroids? If so, what was your method? Also, I
have had different hydroids in the past, not many but a few, and they
generally cycled out within a couple weeks to a month. If you have had
them before (the digitated kind), how long did it take for them to cycle
out? I wouldn't even mind letting them just do that, except a few of
them are getting way to close to some of my corals at night, when they
extend themselves. Current setup: 100g 30g sump/fuge (LV, 4in.
LS, macro algae) AquaC EV180 12x turnover Magnum 350 canister
(changed weekly with carbon) 100lb LV Test readings: NH3/NH4,
NO2, NO3 = 0 pH = 8.3
Temp = 78 to 80 Ca = 400 ALK = 9 dKH sg = 1.024 Kent sea
salt, 10 to 15% weekly water change, no additives <Erica, if it were
me, I would get a syringe from the pharmacy and make up a strong
solution of Kalkwasser and when the buggers are out, inject them with
that. It should do the trick. James (Salty Dog)>
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