Digitate hydroids help?
- Thread starter TOURKID
- Start date
Yes they pack a powerful sting, I wouldn't touch with your bare hand. They are very hard to get rid of. You can find several post on here if you do a search. To rid them is a battle and depending on how many you have the methods can very, but get rid of them as asap before they spread to the whole tank. I fought mine for at least two years. You can try covering them with a kalk paste if it is only a small area. If all possible remove the rock they are on from the tank and battle them outside of the tank. This will help in keeping them from spreading. You could also try removing the rock and use a hard bristle brush to scrub them off the rock. I have heard some poeple use tweezers to remove them from the rock, but that has to be some work. You have to be sure to remove all trace of them including the runners or they will grow back. I finally had to remove the rock from the tank and placed it in RO water in a covered trash can for about a month. After that I scrubbed the rock and blasted it with a hose rinsed it and placed it in a covered trash can with salt water for another month. Unfortunately this kills the whole rock, but it was they only way I could win the war. Good luck.
TOURKID
New member
wow. i noticed about three when i started my tank. dident know. id say in the past month i have oh.... 20?
so will these sting future corals? if i try tweezers, how do i get the whole worm without just ripping off its stinger thing?
kalk paste... is that kalkwasser mixed real thick? I dont use the kalk method, just kents calcium with the occasional dkh buffer
im kinda alarmed
so will these sting future corals? if i try tweezers, how do i get the whole worm without just ripping off its stinger thing?
kalk paste... is that kalkwasser mixed real thick? I dont use the kalk method, just kents calcium with the occasional dkh buffer
im kinda alarmed
First off, hydroids are not a worm, but are related to jellyfish. They are only on the outside of the rock and are attached to it by stolans which will look like roots that spread out across the rock or whatever they are attached to. Mine would sting the daylights out of my hands and would leave welts that would make my hand swell. They didn't seem to have any affect on my soft corals except to compete for space. However, they overtook and killed my sps corals and xenia.
If you only have around 20 or so, I would try using kalk. Just mix some kalk with tank water until it is a thick paste. You can then put it in a syringe or maybe a turkey baster and then cover the hydroids completely. You might have to apply it a couple of times. If you are doing it in the tank turn off any power heads in the tank so it won't blow the kalk around while you are applying it. Just make sure the kalk doesn't get on any corals in the tank.
I had mine in a 180gal tank that started about the size of a quater and after a year they coved about 70% of the tank.
If you only have around 20 or so, I would try using kalk. Just mix some kalk with tank water until it is a thick paste. You can then put it in a syringe or maybe a turkey baster and then cover the hydroids completely. You might have to apply it a couple of times. If you are doing it in the tank turn off any power heads in the tank so it won't blow the kalk around while you are applying it. Just make sure the kalk doesn't get on any corals in the tank.
I had mine in a 180gal tank that started about the size of a quater and after a year they coved about 70% of the tank.
Randall_James
Premium Member
Ignore the things, they are impossible to keep alive if you wanted to.
Most tanks go thru a period of these things in the first 6 or 9 months and then they will be gone forever
Most tanks go thru a period of these things in the first 6 or 9 months and then they will be gone forever
Randall_James
Premium Member
basically, the things are ultra finicky and fragile. If you wanted to keep them alive you would not be able to. So unless you have some very hardy strain, just keep up on your tank service and they will disappear in a few weeks normally.
Well in my experiance the hydroids I had were monster and I have talked with several others who couldn't get there's to die. I had my 180 get to 92 degrees and the salt level dropped to 1.009 (numerous eqiupment problems that week, but that's another thread). I lost all my corals and a few fish, but the hydriods thrived in it. In fact the almost doubled the colony size that week.
The hydroids I had are in the above picture just in front of the foxface's nose.
The hydroids I had are in the above picture just in front of the foxface's nose.
Randall_James
Premium Member
The photo is not very good, the only thing I see is what looks like a chunk of aptasia and another just above the banded goby's dorsal fin looks to be another aptasia. If you have a digital camera I would suggest getting an image of what ever it is you have. Missed ID's can be problematic even with good images
Amphiprion
Premium Member
I have some small hydroid patches that I have had for many years.
Randall_James
Premium Member
ManEatingGuppy
New member
my lunar wrasse got rid of them, im pretty sure similar wrasse will get rid of urs too. it also ate all my hitch hikers except dusters. ive touched them with my bare hands before. i still have some, doesnt seem to bother my corals.
The hydroids are on the right side of the above pic. I would try to get a better pic, but I have since killed mine off. I only have old pics to work with. The hydroids I had look nothing like the one in Randall James pic. Mine were colonial hydroids. Here is another old pic, maybe that will help.
Kalk worked a little for me, but never seemed to kill it all. Kind of like fighting aptasia, if you don't kill ever last bit of it, it just comes back. The only way I was able to rid my tank of it was to remove the rock, scrub it with a firm brush and cook it in R/O water. Good luck.
