Pest Identification?? Pictures Included

[Rjukan]

Hi, I have these things on the upper rock in my tank. Any ideas?

 

[kiknchikn]

Hydroids. If I were you I'd remove those rocks and scrub them down and try to get rid of the pest as soon as you can.

 

[Rjukan]

Yeah thats what I was afraid of, I just didnt find an exact picture like mine. Ok, so manual removal is the only way to go then it sounds like. They dont seem to spread when I scrub them down (have had them for years) but they definitely come back eventually. I will try scrubbing at them for a few days straight and see how that works. Thanks for the positive ID.

 

[kiknchikn]

If they keep coming back and you don't mind having ugly rock for a while you can cover the area they were in with super glue gel or aquamend after you remove them. That has worked with 100% success for me in the past. I have 0 of that type of hydroid now.

 

[Snail-po]

wow i feel STUPID i have a bunch of these on a few rocks(2 in particular) in my tank. i always thought they were macro-algea. dang do i really have to go through and kill them all , it would be a big pain to destroy my aquascapoing. what negative effects do they have and what eats them?

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13978805#post13978805 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snail-po
wow i feel STUPID i have a bunch of these on a few rocks(2 in particular) in my tank. i always thought they were macro-algea. dang do i really have to go through and kill them all , it would be a big pain to destroy my aquascapoing. what negative effects do they have and what eats them?

i dont know but i am sure there is some sort of nudibrach out there that eats them...i cant imagine hydriods are overly high on the food chain...

as for bad...yes they are...very much so...as they will mostly likely out sting any coral you have, causing them to stay receded...thus eventually killing the coral..

 

[Snail-po]

how quickly do hydroids grow?

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Looks like Myronemia hydroids. Widely regarded as an uncontrollable pest if you let it get out of hand. I had some that multiplied slowly for a year and I thought were quite beautiful and interesting. They never overran my tank, and would die back from time to time for now known reason. Eventually they vanished. I do not know if it was from predation or other causes.

No advice here, just reporting my experience.

 

[Elysia]

You could always panacur them, but panacur can kill other inverts besides hydroids. Ask in the seahorse forum if you are interested.

 

[illapino83]

I was researching on hydroids in the net and in some forums, they said that keyhole limpets eats hydroids.... i might try them out if i find a store that sells them...