hydroids or....???

[surfnvb7]

i picked up a SWEET colony of zoas today. but upon closer inspection after acclimating, i found what i think may be hydroids.

i've never had hydroids, so i really have no idea if they are or not. they at first looked like very small aptasia, but after knocking them off somewhat easily, they looked like miniature starfish...but when i put them in a tiny bit of water in a container, they started pulsating through the water exactly like you would see a jellyfish do...which lead me to beleive they were hydroids.

what do ya'll think?

judging by first glance at the poor pics, they do somewhat look like mini brittle stars, but i can assure you they are not. in the top picture, they are fixed to the container after they swam around for a bit...

any idea how to erradicate them? will the lugols freshwater dip work?

i also saw some flat worms that had slightly red tails...i'm assuming they are some of the bad ones...hopefully the lugols freshwater dip will take care of them also.

in the mean time, the colony is in QT

 

[clord]

I thought hydoids where like featherdusters/ zoos they come out a of tube?

 

[Reef Junkie]

Ewww, they look like zoa spiders...
http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=pnGallery2&func=main&g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=396

 

[surfnvb7]

nope, they arent spiders, at least i dont think so...but i've never had them so i cant be absolutely sure...and i've read/seen pics with limited info on them.

the pics i've seen of the zoa spiders dont look like them at all. they look more like mini star fish than they do spiders. but star fish dont pulse through the water or attach like an aptasia.

they werent actually on the zoas, just spots on the rocks, they honestly didnt look like they were interested in the zoas.....they attach to a surface like an aptasia...and kinda let the tentacles "hang out" in the current. but, i've never seen any aptasia "pulse" through the water, which is why i thought it might be hydroids.

by looking at the top pic, you can notice how there are 4 arms that are very long of equal length. then in b/w those long arms, there are smaller arms. spiders and star fish have arms of equal length...i think...

i wish i could find my darn lugols solution. :mad2:

 

[Azurel]

They could be some type of walking jellyfish....Dr.Ron has an article on them, and I think they are related to hydroids, they look like little anemones but can swim also.....It might have be in RK magazine.

I had a couple of zoanthid spiders and you cannot confuse it with anything. They look exactly like land spiders, just as creepy to.

 

[surfnvb7]

finally got a picture with a better camera. after closer observation, i swear they look like small aptasia. i dont have any experience with aptasia though.....if you let them drift in open water (with no current) will it open up and start to pulse? walk around until it finds a satisfactory spot?

i wish dr. ron was still around. i tried to post over on the MD forums, but i swear they are slow and crash every time i hit a button to navigate around.

i have a nifty little quicktime video i took of one in a container with my camera. its only 10sec long (1.3 MB). shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to anyone who wants to see it. not the best video, but if you look carefully enough you'll get the idea of what i mean by "pulsing" and "walking" after i brushed it off the rock.

in the end, i dont think they will be a prob anymore, a combination of lugols and joes juice, plus plucking them off seemed to do the trick last night. the zoas are recovering nicely. and i saw no indication of any upon inspection this evening.

man these things are SEXY! :smokin:

roughy ~100polyps, on a rock 3"x3". about 4 different morphed variations of purple/green/red. and for only $30 i think that was a good deal, even if they did have some weird things on them. :thumbsup:

 

[surfnvb7]

actually, i dont feel like answering a bunch of PM's... :lol:

so here's the link, just right click on the link and click "save target as", or just click on it if your browser can handle it.

click me!

 

[Reef Junkie]

Man, that thing is creepy.
Absolutely no idea what it is.

 

[dwdenny]

Keep us posted if you find out what the heck they are. BTW great looking zoas you have there.