Unknown threads on Zoos

[BigJPDC]

I don't know how to describe these things that are sticking out of my zoo rock, but don't know if they are bad or good. Are they sweepers? Any ID is great - thanks!
jp

 

[raider77]

They appear to be hydroids. I have them on one of my colonies and they can spread through out your tank. My personal experience with these would lead me to say they're are not a good thing to have.

 

[BigJPDC]

Yikes, that is good to know if that's the case. It is my only zoo rock that has them, and I have successfully fragged it without the hydroids following the frag.

I will need to research these hydroids - directly above this rock is my only spot of algae and a sponge growing as well. I don't know if there is some correlation.

All other comments are very welcome, including what my next steps should be here.

jp

 

[Reef Junkie]

Take the rock out of the tank, if you can.
Use an old soft toothbrush and in a separate bucket and tank water, softly scrub them off.
They will grow back, but at least you'll be ready next time.

Once you see them growing back, try taking the rock out and gluing the suckers shut with some super glue. Be careful not to glue your zoas shut.

I found that my copperband butterfly makes short work of hydroids. Who knew?

 

[BigJPDC]

Thank you. They are covering almost 1/3 of the rock. I am thinking more along the lines of using a cold chisel and cutting it in half. I fragged it because I was afraid of losing it and it's already grown back what I removed.

jp

 

[Reef Junkie]

I know how you feel. I had a similar problem with a colony of Eagle Eyes that had a small colony of hydroids in the center of it.

I took the colony out of the tank and let it sit for a minute. This way the polyps would be completely closed.

Then I took crazy glue and carefully glued inbetween the polyps in the center of the rock. Some EE polyps died, but most lived.
The colony has completely overgrown that area now and is hydroid free.

 

[BigJPDC]

RJ - what about a fw or lugol's dip? This rock is the toughest thing in my tank, it was my first coral and I have even found it upside down buried in the sand after snails knocked it over.

jp

 

[Reef Junkie]

FW or Lugols might make it worse. Or rather, it might stress the animals out more.

Try removing the offending substance or decaying carcass, I bet they bounce back.

Do you have a hammer and chisel?

 

[msman825]

I thought fresh water might kill them

 

[BigJPDC]

in the interest of science, I did everything. =)

Out of water, I could not discern the hydroids, so I did a fw\lugols dip, then chiseled the rock in half. One half was mostly hydroids, so I fragged a few polyps off it. The other half only had a small section of hydroids, so I super-glued over them.
The half rock and frag are in my nano, we'll see how it goes in a few days.

jp

 

[BS]

I've had them before but they seem to die off over time..

 

[msman825]

keep us in formed. I wanta know what the FWD did too them

 

[BigJPDC]

I don't think it did anything. After the dip they were still all flapping around when back in the tank. I see that I missed one, even after all the super glue.