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Small feather duster...friend or foe?


like-fish

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I purchsed some VERY mature live rock from a local reefer and used it to seed my new tank.

 

On several of the pieces there are FIELDS of small green feather dusters growing. by small i mean The size of a 12 point font O.

 

I am curious is these are a water quality indicator and if they pose a nusance or irritation problem to my SPS?

 

I tried to get pictures but no luck with cell camera. THey look like small feather dusters hunter green in color an really glow under my royal blue LED.

 

THANKS!

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come scrape a few! Im only 2 hours north of you on I75!

 

Then you can school me on my crappy DIY bridgelux LED arrays (still trying to figure out how to change them)

 

These green feathers irritate anything? I ask because i have a few encrusters headed their way!

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Yes. Those are colonial hydroids. Jedi must be slipping, as I've never heard of a green feather duster :lol:

Fwiw, in my "wild caught" live rock, I have had those exact ones in your link, red ones, orange ones, and the typical clear type. Zoas, ricordea, mushrooms, and my maxi mini all lived with them and never flinched, however my birdsnest near one rtned.

It may have been a Coincedince, but I would try to eradicate them if I were you. They are extremely hard to kill off completely, but if you have an encrusting monti or somthing to Put over them once theyre "dead", they houldnt grow back or cause any harm.

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lovely..... just found more than enough info.

 

Looks like i will be removing some rock. Good times.

 

Come get em Jedi....

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jedimasterben
Yes. Those are colonial hydroids. Jedi must be slipping, as I've never heard of a green feather duster :lol:

Hey, you never know what you'll find out there. ;)

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Look like hydroids but Green Feather Dusters do exist. FeatherDusterGreen11.jpg

This might be a yellow feather duster in actinics. But description wise OP said he has very small ones.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/501757..._e21156b686.jpg

I googled colonial hydroids and this is what I found.

This is them!!

ill do some research on them now that i know what to search!

thanks!

 

Don't be freaked out. Use super glue. Take out the rock and super glue over the hydroids. If you are unable to take out the rock, take a bog bead of super glue gel on your finger, quickly dunk your hand in the water and smear the glue on the hydroids. Wipe your finger on a cloth or towel, NOT on tissue or paper towel. You will have a thin coating of glue left on your finger which peels off easily.

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Thanks Kat...

 

the rocks they are on are all loosely placed to round out my scape. Some of them have corals mounted on them but i should be able to get the rocks out without too much fuss. I intend to remove what areas they are thick on with screwdriver or the like. I will hit em with the superglue in the tight areas!

 

Great help! Great ID. thanks!

 

When you stopping by Jedi? Ill have cold beverages on hand. I must admitt though i am an uber reef geek in training and might not let ya leave too quickly till im done milking you for info. (my milking techniques are painless!)....

 

 

<<<<<< insert innapropriate comments here>>>>>>

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jedimasterben
When you stopping by Jedi? Ill have cold beverages on hand. I must admitt though i am an uber reef geek in training and might not let ya leave too quickly till im done milking you for info. (my milking techniques are painless!)....

 

<<<<<< insert innapropriate comments here>>>>>>

I'll get my teats ready.

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

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My sig is just going to be dedicated to you, Ben.

LOL

 

Good luck getting rid of those hydroids, man. any chance puttying over them with a reef stick or something like that would kill them off? Never had to deal with them, thank god.

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operation "get em out of my tank" complete. One of the rocks was infested and for safetys sake i took it out completely. The other colonies i wnet after with pliers and a scraper.

 

I believe i got em all and the surrounding area, just to make sure. Ill keep the epoxy and superglue tricks in mind if they resurface. Had to move a lot of corals to make this happen but the end result was an improvement.

 

Thanks for the help!

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