Pods, shrimps and grass-like things?

[jabeuy]

A few things I'm finding in my tank:

 

1) I wanna say these are some sort of pod, but not sure. Harmless? Good to have?

 

2) Found this shrimp looking thing on one of my zoas. The polyp it was on closed up. Pulled it out right away.

 

3) A single strand of grass looking thing coming out of a zoa frag. GHA? It's not anywhere else in the tank.

 

Any one have an ID of these?

Thanks!

[Lynaea]

1) copepods = good

2) amphipod = usually good but if it makes a cocoon them maybe bad. Zoa's, etc will close up when things run across them, I think these are cool and consider them part of the CUC in my tank.

3) I have something similar in some of my zoa's, its a tube that this feeler thing comes out of and it searches around for food (?) and makes the polyps close. If it bothers the zoa's a lot try to remove it (good luck, mine came back in a week or two).

[jabeuy]

Thanks! I can relax a bit haha.

 

And sorry, for some reason I can't insert images when I do this from my phone...keeps turning into links lol.

[jabeuy]

Took a better picture of the 3rd one. There are a bit more of them, and seem to be coming out of the frag plug:

[Lynaea]

Okay, third thing doesn't look 'alive' like a worm. Could be a type of algae or hydroid, if the zoa's seem bothered by it at all probably best to scrub it off or pull them off the plug.

[jabeuy]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on the 3rd one

[jabeuy]

So the 3rd item, the grass like thing...it's apparently moving and spreading somewhat.

It's no longer on the zoa colony, but I've found a single strand on a rock, and a lot more of them on a frag plug on the my Duncans.

 

Here's a pic on my Duncan's frag plug (I intentionally made the duncans close up, not caused by the grass-like things):

 

 

 

 

Could this be bryopsis? One of the strands has a "fan/feather" looking thing at the end:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bryopsis&safe=off&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=X70xVOKrLoiYyAT5rYDQAQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1497&bih=775

[Tamberav]

Bryopsis! KILL IT!

[jabeuy]

Bryopsis! KILL IT!

Nooo! Was hoping it wasn't lol.

 

In addition to manually removing them, I'm assuming the same things as preventing GHA apply? Like reducing nitrates and phosphates.

[Tamberav]

Nooo! Was hoping it wasn't lol.

In addition to manually removing them, I'm assuming the same things as preventing GHA apply? Like reducing nitrates and phosphates.

 

No. Bryopsis doesn't care... Bryopsis will bring the fires of hell regardless of nutrients. Remove the frag and apply peroxide to the bryopsis.

[hey]

tear that plug off... then burn the plug.

[jabeuy]

Wow that serious eh?

I need to look into this more. Unfortunately it's on my favourite coral's plug, so I'm scared of harming it inadvertently.

[Mr. Microscope]

Serious.. Bryopsis is the bane of many reefers and has caused some people to break down their tanks and start over. Get those zoas off the plug and put them on another plug of something else. Be carefull not to let any bryopsis loose in your tank. If you need to sacrifice a few of those zoas to ensure no bryopsis gets into your tank, do it.

Another thing you can do is to cover the bryopsis with superglue. It might help slow it down or prevent it from growing.

[jabeuy]

Yikes! Seems like I have to get on this real soon.

I'm starting up a new tank, so should deal with this beforehand.

Thanks everyone, for bringing this to attention.

[jabeuy]

So weird...I went in to manually remove the bryopsis just now, and they seem to have disappeared.

Is it possible that they're moving? Or a trochus snail ate it?

 

[clownfitch]

Bryopsis roots.. It isn't gone the stem is just gone. You really need to get the plug out of your tank. It is a ticking time bomb....

[jabeuy]

Uh oh. OK, looks like it's time to buy some frag plugs and learn how to get these guys off them.

[Chungy]

Do it! They spread like wild fire, it got so bad in my spec V I had to take the rocks out and scrub them off, other option is to dose Mg, but that is a pain in the butt, so better take care of it while you can.

[afyounie]

So, I don't get this huge fear of bryopsis. I had it in my tank, but I got my nitrate and phosphates under control as well as my magnesium levels and now I rarely ever see it. It doesn't even exist in my refugium. Instead I got a nice fluffy red algae along with my macros in the refugium. I see a stem pop up here or there of the bryopsis occasionally, but it doesn't last long. No idea what is eating it other than maybe my turbos. And no, I don't run a ULNS. I feed every day frozen Rod's because I have a big NPS gorg that is just so pretty and I would hate to see it fade away. I do run a skimmer and that thing pulls out a lot of gunk, but that is all I run at this point. I don't even use filter socks anymore. Just skimmer and refugium. Now I just need to stop bleaching my corals with the bright LEDs.

[Chungy]

So, I don't get this huge fear of bryopsis. I had it in my tank, but I got my nitrate and phosphates under control as well as my magnesium levels and now I rarely ever see it. It doesn't even exist in my refugium. Instead I got a nice fluffy red algae along with my macros in the refugium. I see a stem pop up here or there of the bryopsis occasionally, but it doesn't last long. No idea what is eating it other than maybe my turbos. And no, I don't run a ULNS. I feed every day frozen Rod's because I have a big NPS gorg that is just so pretty and I would hate to see it fade away. I do run a skimmer and that thing pulls out a lot of gunk, but that is all I run at this point. I don't even use filter socks anymore. Just skimmer and refugium. Now I just need to stop bleaching my corals with the bright LEDs.

 

After scrubbing huge infestations off some of my LRs, for a short period of time they would occasionally pop up on some of the frags, but then they would disappear the day after, I was suspecting my CUC were eating it as well. Not sure if it is because there is nothing else to eat since I have quite a large CUC from reefcleaners and the tank is sparkling clean.

 

It can definitely get out of control if left ignored, so best thing to do imo is to get rid of it manually fast if you observe the new growth is not going anywhere after a few days.

[jabeuy]

I won't be able to go out and grab some new frag plugs for a week, so hopefully things will be fine until then. From now on, going to be replacing all frag plugs corals come on with new ones...just in case lol.

 

Where does bryopsis come from anyway? Does it appear due to high nutrients, or does it first need to be transported in?

[Chungy]

Mines came from a frag that I got from a local reefer.

[afyounie]

After scrubbing huge infestations off some of my LRs, for a short period of time they would occasionally pop up on some of the frags, but then they would disappear the day after, I was suspecting my CUC were eating it as well. Not sure if it is because there is nothing else to eat since I have quite a large CUC from reefcleaners and the tank is sparkling clean.

 

It can definitely get out of control if left ignored, so best thing to do imo is to get rid of it manually fast if you observe the new growth is not going anywhere after a few days.

 

I left my bryopsis alone for the most part. It was only when it started to die that I pulled some out to keep it from leaching phosphates back into the water. My bryopsis died once I got my magnesium levels back into order. I didn't use the Kent brand of magnesium additive either. I used ESV. I'd say make sure everything is in order pertaining to water chemistry and then ensure that other macro algae can outcompete the bryopsis and you should be able to keep it under control.

[farkwar]

I bought 8 lettuce sea slugs.

 

Almost completely erradicated my bryopsis outbreak.

 

 

It did have me thinking that bryopsis in an enclosed Algae Turf Scrubber would be awesome.

[farkwar]

I won't be able to go out and grab some new frag plugs for a week, so hopefully things will be fine until then. From now on, going to be replacing all frag plugs corals come on with new ones...just in case lol.

Where does bryopsis come from anyway? Does it appear due to high nutrients, or does it first need to be transported in?

Like all algae, you only need one single cell. Like herpes, once its in your tank it will always be in your tank. Unless you break it down and bleach everything.

 

It will consume every available nutrient, it will give you virtually zero nitrate and zero phosphate water (on test kits).

 

It is for all practical purpose resistant to even 35% hydrogen peroxide to kill it.