hydroids :(

[Angela Short]

I know someone over here has dealt with hydroids but can't remember who. Anyone have any luck getting rid of them short of throwing out the rock? Some mysteriously popped up in the nano and are quite the nasty little stingers! RC's search function never works for me and the free link is out of commision as my PC has some weird pop up blocker installed now that I can't open stuff with the link Dave posted.

 

[Runner]

Putting caulk paste on them or covering them with super-glue gel is the only permanent solution I've ever found. I have pulled them off (or even burned them off with a propane torch) and they grow back right in the same spot. I have a bad case of them in my tank. I pull a rock out every now and then and pluck/caulk/burn it into submission, then try to grow something on it before the hydriod jellyfish come back.

My present experiment is to totally dry out the rock in the sun. I have two ready for scrubbing and return to the tank right now. It won't really be "live" rock anymore, but if I glue a few zoanthids to it nobody will be able to tell the difference. And perhaps the zoanthids can out-grow the new hydroid colonies. Yes, Mel, I am putting your greens up against my hydriods. It should be a close contest...

 

[Angela Short]

:lol: yes Mels greens should be able to win out on a grow over rock rate. I just wish all my zoas would grow so fast! I am going to try to dremmel or chisel off the section from my nano. they are on a big ( for a 5 gallon) size rock with 5 different zoas growing on it so the sun methode is not possiable. Those suckers totally melted a nice kenya tree frag my mother colony dropped near them. This is how I found them. Thats funny you tried to torch them! Thanks for the info, I thought that would be the only answer.

 

[salt newbie01]

Are ya'll talking about digitate hydroids? They look like little worm things that come out from the rock at night. I have those but they don't seem to be stinging anything. They stay "attached" at the base and the part that comes out from the rock waves around in the current. Are they the same thing?

 

[Runner]

I am talking about hydroid jellyfish. They look like brown featherduster/tube worms and are out all the time. And they sting nearby corals. My candy canes did not seem to mind, but they have caused my orange cap to bleach and my zoanthids to pull away. They are filter feeders, though, and if you have competition in the immediate area, it will prevent them from getting a foothold. Mine became a problem when I was feeding the tank live phytoplankton. I won't do that again until Mel's greens take over.

 

[salt newbie01]

Do they make hard little tubes that come out of the rock and then extend a thin almost clear strand that swings around in the current? I have a bunch of those also - and I have noticed they make my kenya tree close up.

 

[ReefRacer]

Patrick,
The things you are talking about are harmless. I forget the name of them but I read that when you see them the tank is ready for sps.
I have tons of them when you stir up the tank they come out.

 

[salt newbie01]

That's how mine act - I assume they feed out of the water column. I haven't noticed them affecting anything but a kenya tree - Maybe it was just sensitive or it was something else. Well it's good to know they are harmless. Thanks

Sorry for the thread hi-jack

 

[llpoolej]

I just shot mine up with Joes Juice and it looks like(at this point) all but the empty stalks disintegrated. Time will tell

I just had to move my Candy Cane as it was being badly stung by Mel's mean polyps

 

[Angela Short]

I will try and post a pic for ya tonight.

 

[awcurl]

I burnt them off before, they never came back.

 

[imsqueak]

I've burnt them too, but only a month ago, and only 1 rock. No regrowth but I trust that runner was dilegent with them so I'm just waiting. I've tried joes and kalk without sucess. I had one patch with a nice coat of kalk that stayed for long enough for algae to grow over the kalked over place. then one day I look and it seems as if they just popped off the crust and look as if nothing ever happened. I propably have +30 nickel/dime sized patches of this stuff.