snowflake_clown Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Well, I have read posts across all the forums about these guys. Suggestions range anywhere from "leave them alone bc they will die off anyways" to "I've had them for years and they never seemed to bother anything" to "they killed off all my SPS and zoa's". Unfortunately, my case happens to be that last one. I've lost all my SPS and am about to lose my zoa colony. Meanwhile, my RBTA, golden torch, ORA red goniopora, acan's, gsp, xenia are all doing perfectly fine and don't even seem to notice them. My tank is a Fusion 40 with about 40 lbs of Marco Rocks. Tank is about 6 months old, and things have gone great so far. Following Red Sea's full reef care program, and running the IM ghost protein skimmer. I have probably 50 or more digitate hydroids scattered throughout my live rock. Any one who recommends manual removal has obviously never actually battled a significant out break of these. Pulling out the affected live rock isn't an option because there are hydroids on all the rock. This post is a last attempt to find some relevant help for attacking these without tearing down the tank and starting over. I don't over feed the tank, and they have decimated my pod population. I have two ORA snowflake clowns, purple firefish, yellow assessor, and a cleaner shrimp. Various snails and two red leg hermits as well. Any experience with any particular nudi, fish, or invert that my assist in riding the tank of these? I've attached a photo I found that is exaclty what I have in my tank. Link to comment
snowflake_clown Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 Wanted to follow up on this post to possibly help any other person who may ever search and find this article in an attempt to battle these. I have now successfully rid the tank of all digitate hydroids with the help of a single ORA Whitespotted Pygmy Filefish. This little guy picked away at every single one of them, and within about 2 or 3 weeks had completely rid the tank of all hydroids. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Good to know. I fall in the category of Ive always had them for years with zero problems. My tank is rockin. But if they ever become an issue I'll check that out! Thanks! Has you filefish touched any coral? Those are supposed to me more reef safe than some other files. Link to comment
plainrt Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 My tank is covered in these. Nothing I can do but sit back and hope go away:( Link to comment
snowflake_clown Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Good to know. I fall in the category of Ive always had them for years with zero problems. My tank is rockin. But if they ever become an issue I'll check that out! Thanks! Has you filefish touched any coral? Those are supposed to me more reef safe than some other files. You're very welcome! I really hope one day someone finds this thread and it helps them out. I really can't believe how quickly it took care of the hydroids. My filefish has been one of my favorite additions, and I have seen no picking at any of my corals. I feed the tank LRS Reef Frenzy each night and he chows down. Perhaps just keeping them well fed helps deter them messing with corals? Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Do you know if they file fish goes after colonial hydroids? That would be awesome Link to comment
markalot Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Mine finally died off after 2 years, not sure why. I would occasionally have to epoxy over an area if they were irritating a coral but other than that I didn't sweat it. Link to comment
amphipod Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Mine finally died off after 2 years, not sure why. I would occasionally have to epoxy over an area if they were irritating a coral but other than that I didn't sweat it. they might have starved, what changes have you done to the tank in that 2 years. Link to comment
plainrt Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 I always hear they come and go. They have in past tanks of mine also Link to comment
hey Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 They bloom like the plague but didn't irritate my corals much, from what I've read our tanks are limited on something they need to survive long term just wait them out. Took about 9 months for mine to subside. Link to comment
amphipod Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 They bloom like the plague but didn't irritate my corals much, from what I've read our tanks are limited on something they need to survive long term just wait them out. Took about 9 months for mine to subside. research the Leptomedusae ( thecate hydroids) and you'll be able to learn everything science knows about "digitate hydroids" Link to comment
snowflake_clown Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Appreciate all the feedback guys, the more info the better. In my case, they bothered my SPS and zoas enough until they died off, so I was definitely losing corals due to the hydroids. Maybe they do just die off eventually, but in my case they were pestering corals enough to cause some loses. ORA filefish took care of the issue, plus has added so much character to the tank. Super cool fish, and hasn't picked at a single coral since being added. Tank is fed daily with LRS Reef Frenzy. Link to comment
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