colonial hydroids

[rc4kinu]

place a frag of hydnopora next to them. It will kill anything.

 

[Rippinfrags]

When I first had these, I tried tooth brushes. A few months later I tried tweezers. A few months after that I tried pliers. Then I just let them go for 6 months and they spread and took over everything. I then decided to torch them. I've torched every rock in my tank 3 times over the past 6 months, they still come back. When I torched the rock, I heated them up fairly hot. 2 months later, a few pop up here and there. I give up on these guys. I am going to start fresh in a new tank with new rock, transfer what coral I can, take the rock from my old tank and then cook it in the oven at extreme heat for 5 hours and then put it back in my old tank and just watch it.

I would not do this, I have read that you should never boil or heat up live rock. You can end up releasing some nasty toxins into the air. I would think it would be especially dangerous in the oven, considering that's where most people cook there food. If I were you, I would soak the rock in some muratic acid, that should kill the nasties.

 

[Korrine]

what about a freshwater dip in tap water with chloramine? Think that'd be enough to kill them?

 

[SushiGirl]

Some of them do mature to jellyfish in our systems quite often. I've had 2 different kinds do so. Originally I had these:

Hydroid polyp


About to release a jellyfish


Jellyfish




Another kind releases the star shaped jellyfish that people find on their glass as seen in the first post here. I've had those, as well.

More info here.

I have a few of the tube ones in my tank now and it's taken them a year to spread to a non-adjacent rock.

 

[njones]

SushiGirl it might be 3 years later, but those pics were awesome still!

 

[SushiGirl]

Thanks! Those pics were from 2003 lol.

 

[jacojs]

Are they the soft brown fluffy ones like this?

Or are they more like this with tubes:

The brown fluffy ones just grow on tiny little strings in a colony and they can multiply extremely fast. I have found that they are photosynthetic, so covering them up does work. I spread a Kalk paste on the colony and then wrap that piece of rock in a large sheet of epoxy putty. Looks like crap for a while, but it did work.
I tried hammering off the piece of the rock that they were growing on, but they would always come back because their little stringy roots went deep in to every nook and cranny. Miss even one little bit and they come back. Insidious little pests.
Manual removal leads to cups full of hydroids and no progress.

But they come back twice as thick

If you have the tube ones, they are actually jellyfish. Once they mature(which I don't think they do in the aquarium), the crowns will leave the tubes and become the free floating jellies. I had a few small patches of these, but they did not seem to multiply at all. In fact, they are sometimes neon green and kind of cool. You can easily get rid of these buy plucking the tube from the rock with tweezers. They are on there pretty tough though.

I never found any fish, shrimp, or nudi that would touch either kind.

Hi everyone, apologies for reviving this old thread but does anyone have the images that aztbs posted? I really need to see what he was talking about?

I will really appreciate any help on this.

Regards
Jaco

 

[jacojs]

Anybody please?

 

[SushiGirl]

My post on the previous page hss pics. Also if you click on my profile there's a link to my homepage. Below are the tube kind.

 

[jacojs]

Hi Sushigirl, thanks for responding!!

This is what I have.

Do I have to worry about them?

 

[jacojs]

Very nice photos @Sushigirl! So looking at your photos I also have the tube kind that I dont have to remove?

 

[SushiGirl]

When my tube ones started spreading I pulled them out with tweezers. I still have a few in a little group, but they're not spreading at all.

 

[jacojs]

Thank you SushiGirl, thats good to know.

 

[SEAMONSTER]

I had a problem with ****in hydroids as well!! Nothing eats them! But they kil coral and they **** up snails as well. At least nothing that is reef safe will eradicate them. Flame angels pick at them... But never ever killing them all... The best way is to remove your corals or cut them from the rocks and boil the rocks in tap water for 1/2 hour, rinse under the tap and scrubbed with a brush...then returned them to the tank. No more hydroids!!never do all of your rocks in one day... It has to be done a few rocks at a time over time but it works.

 

[evolved]

Boiling live rock is never a safe idea; people have nearly killed themselves via vaporized toxins in the process.

 

[SEAMONSTER]

I've been boiling rocks for years because of hydroids or other pests. The hydroids returned in my system because there's a rock that I missed, but there's a coral on it. It's time for some drastic measures....Nothing has ever happened. I boiled a rock last night! If you do boil them, use common sense!!! Ventilation, turn fan on on stove, don't be in kitchen when boiling, keep it way from foodstuffs and utensils, etc.. Do I really have to spell all these things out??!! C'mon people!! DUH!

Either that or use tweezers!! Hahahahahaha!! :headwalls:

 

[johanasu]

The logic that nothing has happened to you = nothing can happen at all is a fallacy. There are chemical dips that will work without the potential for vaporizing harmful chemicals. Just our input, but don't act like someone offering you good advice is the one ignoring common sense.

 

[Scubabum]

I've had a mass infestation of Colonial Hydroids for the last several years. I ran across a post on another forum about using fish fenbendazole as a treatment for Hydroids. I followed the directions and it totally eliminated my colonial hydroids. Caution must be taken as it affects snails and starfish. Only coral it affects is star polyps and Xenia. This method worked 100% on eliminating hydroids.

 

[dream54ing]

I've been taking the rock out and using a exacto blade to shave them off or chasling a piece of the rock off. seems to work for me so far. I keep them under control for most part so never had to deal with massive infestation.

 

[SEAMONSTER]

[profanity]
I did offer a solution to the hydroid problem! Boiling rocks kill everything on it. And I've been doing it for years without any problems. If you want hydroids in your tank, use tweezers or use chemicals in your tank, go right ahead!