Hydroids?

[jjirsa78]

Live rock is quickly becoming covered by small balls of red tentacles on very short pink/white stocks. Each is about 3-6mm tall (1/8-1/4 inch), give or take, and seems to sway in the current.
Nothing seems bothered by them, but they're definitely taking over. There's literally hundreds (perhaps even thousands), and I'm looking for the easiest solution

I haven't found any pictures to of this specific hydroid species, but I'll try to take some tonight if it'll help with an ID. In the mean time, does anyone know what may eat these guys? Or, am I in for a long process of manual removal?

 

[jjirsa78]

One bump, then I'll take it to the main forums

 

[®eefer]

I had a hydroid outbreak a while back, and good luck finding much info about them...since there is no good cure, it seems that nobody likes to talk about them....YIKES!

Nothing eats them (that you can find at least), and they seem to be one of the hardiest things on the ocean. They foul the bottom of boats and have been reported to make it from warm tropical waters to colder climates with different salinities.

Kalk powder wont work, not unless you take the rock out and let it sit overnight in which case you might as well burn them off like I did. I torched mine after trying kalk, Bionic, scrubbing, and covering, they laughed at me and asked if they could have more. Evidence of their laughing could be seen in their rapid multiplying.

One rock in particular had a lot of them on it. I took the rock out (real pain, it was on the bottom), torched almost the entire rock, scrubbed it, and put it out to dry in the sun (it's still on my porch over a month later).

Other rocks received a spot treatment of the propane torch. Just make sure you scrub well as I believe you may release toxins into the tank from the burnt stuff.

I have to say diligence and hard work has paid off, as I havent seen anymore in the past few weeks. Certainly the outbreak is controlled. I believe that better flow and skimmer has also helped me.

Read this http://web.archive.org/web/20001212142000/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/oct/features/1/default.asp

Or do a seach around for Myrionema amboinensis

 

[rockindacheeks]

i had a thread in Reef Discussion about hydroids, and a couple of people told me that a keyhole Limpet will eat them. I havent tried one in my tank but I tried joes juice on the little buggers and that didnt do a thing. they didnt even close up.

 

[rockindacheeks]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=867519

heres the thread.

 

[®eefer]

sound like they eat corals too though. The problem with that is I bet corals are tastier...