teenyreef Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 I have these small critters growing all around my zoas, and on the bottom of my acro plugs just below the encrusting edge of the acros. At first glance they look like some kind of brown macro algae stalks, but when I look at them closely in a macro picture, I can see they are kind of hairy, and seem to extrude something sticky from their tips to collect food from the water, giving them kind a white string from the tip. The one in the upper right seems to be giving off spores or eggs or something. If I pluck them, they are a little bit squishy, so not like algae. They grow back in a day or two after pulling them off, unless I can really scrub them off the frag plug. If left unchecked, they get thicker and thicker, like an algae mat. You can see them all around the closed zoa polyp in the picture. They irritate the zoas, and my acros won't encrust over them. If I don't keep them plucked back, the zoas eventually stop opening. If you click on the picture, it will go to Flickr and you can zoom in. Any ideas? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 Here's a picture of what I think are the same things, but these are on the bottom of a frag along the encrusting edge, out of the light. They don't seem to have the same thick brown stems, but they have the same white sticky stuff. In this picture, there clearly are wispy fronds or feelers coming out of the tips, which makes me wonder if they're hydroids. I haven't seen any pictures of hydroids that look like these, though. PS: that's vermetid worm tube extending downwards in the middle of the picture. I know what that one is Quote Link to comment
second_decimal Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 i see what looks like caulerpa.🤷♂️ (at least in the first picture) 1 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Looks kind of like digitate hydroids. They weren’t able to kill anything, but definitely annoyed everything, and pestered Zoas to the point that they wouldn’t open. 3 Quote Link to comment
MainelyReefer Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 I vote hydroids 3 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 13 hours ago, second_decimal said: i see what looks like caulerpa.🤷♂️ (at least in the first picture) Thanks - when I first started noticing them, I just assumed they were algae. But algae doesn't have little things that collect food sticking out of their tips 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 11 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: Looks kind of like digitate hydroids. They weren’t able to kill anything, but definitely annoyed everything, and pestered Zoas to the point that they wouldn’t open. Yeah, that's what's happening to me. Did you have them, and were you able to get rid of them? 4 hours ago, GraniteReefer said: I vote hydroids Thanks - that was my guess too. I'm just hoping someone will say "I had the exact same problem and here's how i fixed it!" But everything I've read about hydriods says that you can only get rid of them by manual removal. And of course, reducing feeding so they starve. Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 41 minutes ago, teenyreef said: Yeah, that's what's happening to me. Did you have them, and were you able to get rid of them? Thanks - that was my guess too. I'm just hoping someone will say "I had the exact same problem and here's how i fixed it!" But everything I've read about hydriods says that you can only get rid of them by manual removal. And of course, reducing feeding so they starve. I did... I battled them on and off for around six months. It seemed like they'd come and go. I'd have an outbreak, and then I'd get down to just a couple and then they'd come back again. It was perplexing and frustrating. It took me a while to figure out what they were. It seemed to bother the zoas more than anything else. I bought about a dozen bumble bee snails, and I think they helped against them. This was in an ADA 60P (17 gallons) and I'm not convinced all of the bumble bees would eat them, but I do think some of the dozen did. I've since gotten a yellow coris wrasse, and haven't seen them since she started patrolling the tank. 4 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 5 hours ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: I did... I battled them on and off for around six months. It seemed like they'd come and go. I'd have an outbreak, and then I'd get down to just a couple and then they'd come back again. It was perplexing and frustrating. It took me a while to figure out what they were. It seemed to bother the zoas more than anything else. I bought about a dozen bumble bee snails, and I think they helped against them. This was in an ADA 60P (17 gallons) and I'm not convinced all of the bumble bees would eat them, but I do think some of the dozen did. I've since gotten a yellow coris wrasse, and haven't seen them since she started patrolling the tank. Thanks! The frag tank is bare bottom so a yellow coris wrasse would be a sad wrasse in there, unless I fill a tupperware container with sand or something. But bumblebee snails sound interesting. Wouldn't hurt to try, anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 4 hours ago, teenyreef said: Thanks! The frag tank is bare bottom so a yellow coris wrasse would be a sad wrasse in there, unless I fill a tupperware container with sand or something. But bumblebee snails sound interesting. Wouldn't hurt to try, anyway. They definitely wouldn’t hurt. They’re very slow (even for snails!), and like I said, I’m pretty sure not all of them would eat it. So, I’d recommend getting more than you think you’d need and a few will actually eat it. Quote Link to comment
lizzyann Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Not sure about the first picture but the second looks very similar to hydroids I have in my tank. @banasophia also had similar hydroids. A lot of people say they have gone away on their own, but mine certainly haven't yet. They are alllll over my rock at this point. @banasophia also found a sea hare that would eat them, the dolabella or wedge sea hare. I tried to get one twice but they were DOA or died immediately after putting in my tank. Mine do sometimes get gunk that covers them, but never really look like the first picture I don't thiiink. I haven't noticed them bothering anything to an extreme degree either, but maybe just a tad here and there. 2 Quote Link to comment
second_decimal Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Vermetids are the worst. I fought them forever and lost. I just gave up on the end and they took over. 2 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 1 hour ago, lizzyann said: Not sure about the first picture but the second looks very similar to hydroids I have in my tank. @banasophia also had similar hydroids. A lot of people say they have gone away on their own, but mine certainly haven't yet. They are alllll over my rock at this point. @banasophia also found a sea hare that would eat them, the dolabella or wedge sea hare. I tried to get one twice but they were DOA or died immediately after putting in my tank. Mine do sometimes get gunk that covers them, but never really look like the first picture I don't thiiink. I haven't noticed them bothering anything to an extreme degree either, but maybe just a tad here and there. Yes, I’m thinking hydroids as well, more so from the second pic. I’ve had emeralds and sea hares that ate them, but never fully eradicated them.. as @lizzyann mentioned, people always told me they would go away on their own and they eventually did at around 9-10 months. They bothered my zoas a little bit, and really bothered my Duncans to the point they would not open anymore and I could no longer keep them. 2 Quote Link to comment
EfrainChicagoDeepdish Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 I once heard someone mention a laser working on them. I can't be trusted with stuff like that so it is unconfirmed. One day I'll get that chainsaw I've been asking for since I was seven. 3 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 On 1/25/2020 at 4:06 PM, EfrainChicagoDeepdish said: I once heard someone mention a laser working on them. I can't be trusted with stuff like that so it is unconfirmed. One day I'll get that chainsaw I've been asking for since I was seven. I did try a laser once on vermetid snails. It worked great, but only on the ones I could actually point the laser at. All the other ones on the back of the rockwork promptly re-populated the tank. And I got nervous about blinding a fish with a bad-luck aim point. For those wondering, based on the feedback from just about everyone, the second picture is tunicates for sure, and I've found other pictures that are very similar posted by other people. I think the critters in the first picture are also tunicates, but I haven't found any other pictures that identify anything that looks just like them. For now, I'm going to try reduced feeding, more frequent water changes, and regular dips, including fish bendazone, as my first line of defense. The fish bendazone thing got a lot of attention a while back, but later users didn't report much success. As long as I dip outside the tank and rinse well, it shouldn't hurt snails, GSP, and other things that don't like bendazone, so I think it's worth a try. I might still try a yellow coris wrasse or other pest eater. I wish I still had my leopard toby puffer - he definitely ate the vermetid snails, and I never saw any tunicates in either of the tanks I kept mine in. 1 Quote Link to comment
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