Pest ID needed - what is this @&#* ?

[IPT]

They look like tiny aptasia on stalks but they are only about a cm tall. They grow fast, create a sort of mat and sting anything around it. Aptasia X doesn't kill it. So, far the only thing that has worked is mechanical removal with a wire wheel and drill! I fear I will have to actually bleach the rock because it is just impossible to get it all mechanically.

Input? Mejano's? Never saw one so don't know. I thought they were a little bigger but I don't know.

 

[needmore-reef]

hydroids

 

[reefmanmatt]

i have read if you pull the rock and cover the effected area in a thick layer of kalk paste you can wipe hydroids out ... but no personal experience with them .....ive never seen any in person honestly .

 

[carlosec83]

I had a bunch of spots covered in them.... i bought a emerald crab to take care of a few bubble algae and to my surprise there is not a single trace of a hydroid anywhere in my tank any more..... dont jnow if the grazng techniches of the emerald took em out or just coincidence... but thats my .02 on them from my recent experience

 

[IPT]

Thanks - Hydroids huh? Anyone else on the Emrald crab thing? Or Kalk paste (that might be tough as the tank is pretty high flow).

 

[returnofsid]

I've had colonial hydroids, in a tank with several Emerald Crabs. The crabs never touched them. I was able to kill them, using Kalk paste, but it took several applications AND I killed a colony of Zoanthids, in the process.

 

[IPT]

yay, fun times ahead for me. I am thinking about taking about half the rock out and giving it a bleach bath. Then a good scrub down followed by a dip in some decloriator. Then maybe a few weeks later do the other half the rock.

I only have a few small colonies in there and they have not encrusted onto the base rock. In the few places these pests are actually on a rock I need I'll dremel them off. I think if I do that then if some small areas pop up again I will nuke them with the Kalk.

Any comments about that plan? Seems like I really don't have much of a choice. This is in plague conditions, not just in some small patches.

 

[mike810]

combo of super glue gel and putty to cover them up

 

[reefinder]

if you can just take the rock out and nuke it and put it back in the system.

 

[allsps40]

Yep hydroids. I have a few small patches of them in my tank, but they dont seen to grow or spread at all. Had them in the tank for a few years, never been a problem so they dont bother me. Frag putty over them will kill them. I also have seen my emerald crab eating them in my 6g nano.

 

[IPT]

not sure it's the same as what I have. This stuff grows and spreads fairly quickly. I actually took some rocks out about a month ago and wire wheeled it to bare rock. Apparently I missed a few little spots (or they recolonized). They are poping up in little clusters. As for covering it up, not gonna happen. I'd say this stuff covers about 40% of the rock surface in the tank!

It's my own fault, I let it get established and that was a big mistake.