Natural Preditor for Hydroids?

[cpandrewschmidt]

Subject says it all. Is there a fish or something else in our big oceans that eat or kill hydriods?

Andrew

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Hydroids... you're looking at those cool nudis for that, but if I"m correct they're pretty specific on the hydroids they like.

 

[Agu]

Supposedly some angels will eat but they will possibly also eat corals. I've smothered them with epoxy putty and the pressed wet shell/substrate into the epoxy so it's hidden.

 

[nalbar]

I just leave them alone. They can't seem to win a competition against anything in my tank. Zoos and mushrooms run them over.

But i have noticed that both my emeralds enjoy chewing on their stalks. They are quite methodical about tearing them apart. I would not count on them eradicating them though.


nalbar

 

[cpandrewschmidt]

good idea AGU on the substrate thing, i didn't want to use putty because the way it would look, but that would disguise it. No angels for me becuase of the coral. I would like to hear more about the nudi's that might feed on them.

 

[greenbean36191]

That's a pretty vague request. There are literally hundreds of nudibranchs that feed on hydroids, mostly aeolids and dendronotaceans. Almost all of them are extremely picky about which hydroids they eat and none of them are available in the hobby.

 

[pledosophy]

There is a chemical called praizpro or panacur that will kill all the hydroids but also kill many algae eating organisms for years to come. It seems to inbed itself in the rock and leach out over time.

 

[Mscott203]

Believe it or not, my Orangespot Rabbitfish has cleared my tank of these critters. I got them in on our first batch of live rock and just assumed it would be the pest that I would be battling throughout the life of the tank. 6 months later we had them evenly throughout the tank and happened to purchase a Goldspot Rabbitfish. In 2 weeks, the hydroids are all gone, as is all red and green bubble algae that was in the tank. And nicely enough he Hasn't touched any of the corals. We couldnt be more pleased. Probably not the normal experience with them though.

 

[mflamb]

I had quite a few until I added 2 yellow coris wrasses and 2 genecanthus angels. I don't know if one of those fish solved the problem or the timing was coincidental. The angels and wrasses pick at the rock all the time.

 

[livingcorals]

I notice my sailfin nip at them.... Also I did put some Kelk over them to which did work for me!