Help with ID
- Thread starter ThurlowR
- Start date
those def look like stinging hydroids
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php
BCashion
Premium Member
ThurlowR,
Unlike aiptasia, majanoes, bubble algae, or other pests, hydroids are a force not to be reckoned with. They have no natural predator that we know of. There are anecdotal reports of a butterfly fish picking at them or even a wrasse nibbling them away. It won't work. The main problem is that they have the ability to bore beneath the surface of live rock, so if you kill them with Joes Juice or kalk paste, or if you cover them with super glue of putty, they simply migrate. To give you perspective on how bad it can get, I have a 90 gallon tank. At its best I was getting $1500-2000 worth of frags out if it a year. Now it is in ruins because I thought I could conquer the hydroids. My system is now hydroid free and I am rebuilding. What worked? I removed every piece of live rock that had a singly hydroid on it and let it sit dry for two weeks (there are reports of hydroids surviving a few days out of water). Be patient and keep watching - move your rocks around looking on undersides of rocks. If the rock has a hydroid, the whole rock must be considered bad.
Prior to battling hydroids I never paid much attention to the need for a quarantine tank. Now, nothing will go near my tank before first spending a few weeks in the quarantine tank. Good luck.
Brad
Unlike aiptasia, majanoes, bubble algae, or other pests, hydroids are a force not to be reckoned with. They have no natural predator that we know of. There are anecdotal reports of a butterfly fish picking at them or even a wrasse nibbling them away. It won't work. The main problem is that they have the ability to bore beneath the surface of live rock, so if you kill them with Joes Juice or kalk paste, or if you cover them with super glue of putty, they simply migrate. To give you perspective on how bad it can get, I have a 90 gallon tank. At its best I was getting $1500-2000 worth of frags out if it a year. Now it is in ruins because I thought I could conquer the hydroids. My system is now hydroid free and I am rebuilding. What worked? I removed every piece of live rock that had a singly hydroid on it and let it sit dry for two weeks (there are reports of hydroids surviving a few days out of water). Be patient and keep watching - move your rocks around looking on undersides of rocks. If the rock has a hydroid, the whole rock must be considered bad.
Prior to battling hydroids I never paid much attention to the need for a quarantine tank. Now, nothing will go near my tank before first spending a few weeks in the quarantine tank. Good luck.
Brad
J. Montgomery
Mouth Pipetting
x 2
BCashion
Premium Member
Couple of thoughts:
First,
Some people describe having hydroids which seem to peacefully coexist. This may be true. However, though they may not directly sting and kill other corals, they may be detrimental through chemical warfare or by competing for common food sources. I believe this was the biggest harm to my tank. I noticed that my pod population plummeted as the hydroids were proliferating..
Second,
Even if they do peacefully coexist, having a pest that I cannot eliminate drives me nuts and takes away from the overall beauty of the tank. I don't mind seeing an isolated aipatasia, because I know that at any time I could easily kill it and eventually will. Not so with the hydroids.
Regardless, keep the rock that you took out. Give it a few weeks to gurantee hydroid kill, and then you can cure it and reintroduce it back into your tank. And, in the end, remember to quantine!
Brad
First,
Some people describe having hydroids which seem to peacefully coexist. This may be true. However, though they may not directly sting and kill other corals, they may be detrimental through chemical warfare or by competing for common food sources. I believe this was the biggest harm to my tank. I noticed that my pod population plummeted as the hydroids were proliferating..
Second,
Even if they do peacefully coexist, having a pest that I cannot eliminate drives me nuts and takes away from the overall beauty of the tank. I don't mind seeing an isolated aipatasia, because I know that at any time I could easily kill it and eventually will. Not so with the hydroids.
Regardless, keep the rock that you took out. Give it a few weeks to gurantee hydroid kill, and then you can cure it and reintroduce it back into your tank. And, in the end, remember to quantine!
Brad
