Howdy, new nano reefer here, my new tank has possible Hydroids, please help

[iggiebee]

My new Biocube 14, 6 week cycled and ready, has a few patches, here and there on the LR, of what it looks like colonies of some miniature feather dusters, 1/4" in high, with feathers, or stingers that you can barely see. After hours of Internet research, they definitely starting to look like Hydroids, of "Tubularia" type, please see attached photo and references below.

 

Form what I have read so far, and provided that my tank does have Hydroids, it looks that I am left with two options, either nuke everything and start from scratch, or engage in a very long and hopeless protracted war against these creatures, using biological, and non fully ecological destructive means, while at the same time continue to populate the tank.

 

I don't know what to do really, and need your help.

 

Photo of possible Hydroids: What you're looking at, are very small 1/4" high, feather duster look alike, with barely discernible umbrellas made of feathers, or stingers.

 

References:

http://www.starfish.ch/c-invertebrates/hyd...s.html#Hydrozoa,

and http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchodds.html

 

My Biocube 14 just out of a successful lights-out, 6 week cycle, and ready to receive it's first cleanup crew, or so I thought. You can see that some of the original coralline managed to survive, and there is almost no green algae.

[SyCo_VeNoM]

I got those also in mine. I've been wondering what they were but couldn't get a good pic of them to ask.

I noticed them like 4-5 months ago (about a week after I added LR) and at 1st thought they were aptasia due to the coloring, and how fast they appeared(after having a real aptasia I now know they are not that for a fact). All I know whatever they are they don't spread much or get very large in 5 months they went from 4 or so to 18, and all on the same rock in bunches(I have 2 bunches of them), and they have not gotten any longer than since I 1st noticed them.

[CAmor07]

Love the rocks

[altolamprologus]

In a normal reef aquarium, hydroids are 100% harmless and are nothing to worry about. They are only dangerous to larva and dwarf seahorses, neither of which would survive in a reef setup anyway. It is a myth that they will become a plague and sting corals and fish. Just leave them there and forget about them

[ttbanks]

+ 1 for Hydriods. I'm too new to comment validity of the myth or not. I was stressing over conflicting reports and they were all over a zoa frag....I choose to take them out....

[iggiebee]

+ 1 for Hydriods. I'm too new to comment validity of the myth or not. I was stressing over conflicting reports and they were all over a zoa frag....I choose to take them out....

 

Thanks, may I ask how did you take them out?

 

The ones in my tank, have their tubules strongly attached to the rock, and no amount of brushing will will take them out. I guess that you can only pull them out using pliers, or strongly scraping the LR, even after they are dead. I say this because I also have patches of dead Hydroids, and only their tubes are left. Haven't had the time to pull those out.

 

One remedy, calls for covering the colony with epoxy plaster, and then pull whole thing out.

 

 

In a normal reef aquarium, hydroids are 100% harmless and are nothing to worry about. ...

 

Thanks, If not too much to ask, could you point to a source of this information?

[crailtap25]

when i first got my current live rock about 1.5 years ago, it was covered in those colonial hydroids, and digitate hydroids as well. Like you, i first freaked out and thought about starting over. However, i was lazy and never did anything about them.

 

The digitate at first exploded and started taking over the tank. The colonial seemed to be growing slowly. Then all of a sudden within a month all the digitate hydroids were gone, but the colonials were still there. Eventually the colonials started receding too, but much slower.. i still have a few left, but they slowey disappear rather than grow. It depends on your water quality though, if it's a nutrient rich softy tank or similar they will probably grow.. but in my SPS tank they are slowly dieing.

 

In a normal reef aquarium, hydroids are 100% harmless and are nothing to worry about. They are only dangerous to larva and dwarf seahorses, neither of which would survive in a reef setup anyway. It is a myth that they will become a plague and sting corals and fish. Just leave them there and forget about them

 

Digitate hydroids sting corals and fish a bit more since they can reach out far, but not really enough to kill them. These colonial hydroids will only slightly irritate a coral if it grows too close and touches. But other than that they actually might help a little bit by filter feeding.

 

 

PS.. an easy way to get rid of them without starting over is just putting epoxy over them, or squirting some super glue over them to seal them in and stop them from spreading. (but yes, you will be left with a glob of epoxy or glue on the spot until it grows over with coraline. )

[altolamprologus]

Thanks, If not too much to ask, could you point to a source of this information?

I do not have a single tangible source. I know this based on years of research, working in the aquarium industry, and personal experience. I have a few different species of hydroids in 3 of my tanks and they have never bothered any of my coral. I have the same ones you have touching dozens of different corals in my reef tank and they couldn't care less.

 

If you still want a concrete source, a good google search should find that for you.

[iggiebee]

There is hope!!

 

Feeling really brave yesterday afternoon, went ahead and bought a partial cleanup crew composed of 2 peppermint shrimps, 3 electric blue hermits, 2 emerald crabs, 3 orange turbo snails, and 5 dwarf zebra hermits. Later they were acclimated, and introduced to the tank.

 

Noticing today that one of the electric blue hermits, had spent all day on the particular LR where the hydroid colony photographed yesterday was, went to take a look, and what do you know, half the hydroid colony was chomped! AHA! ha ha ha

 

Also observed the emerald crabs, to see if they had any particular taste for the hydroids, but the best they could do was to pull and squeeze the tubules, since they have pads on the tips of their claws, not sharp cutters like the electric blue hermits have.

 

However I can not claim victory yet, on another LR the hydroids seem to be multiplying and prospering, perhaps because it has not been visited yet by one of the electric blue hermits. Lets give it a week or so, to see how it goes.

 

Many thanks for all your responses.