Hydroid Jellyfish problem

[Reef Reece]

Currently having an issue with Hydroid Jellyfish in my Fluval Evo 13.5.

They've obviously hitchhiked off a coral I've recently bought and they've started to multiply quite rapidly, not having any issues with them other than being unsightly on the glass. I scrape them off every 2 days and they stay in low numbers for a day at least but pop right back up. Internet doesn't bear much good info, usually people just saying they disappear after a few months and others who have said they've had them for years.

Im wondering if anyone has any info on their lifecycle at all, so I can help with treatment, such as whether a 3-day blackout would help ?

All my tank stats are on my profile, thanks in advance.

[banasophia]

14 minutes ago, Reece Barnard said:

Currently having an issue with Hydroid Jellyfish in my Fluval Evo 13.5.

They've obviously hitchhiked off a coral I've recently bought and they've started to multiply quite rapidly, not having any issues with them other than being unsightly on the glass. I scrape them off every 2 days and they stay in low numbers for a day at least but pop right back up. Internet doesn't bear much good info, usually people just saying they disappear after a few months and others who have said they've had them for years.

Im wondering if anyone has any info on their lifecycle at all, so I can help with treatment, such as whether a 3-day blackout would help ?

All my tank stats are on my profile, thanks in advance.

I don’t think a blackout will help... I believe the medusa/jellyfish phase turns into the sessile form that will attach to the rocks. I would try to remove them if possible since they are a nuisance when they grow on the rocks. It took about 10 months for them to go away in my tank and they spread all over and bothered some of the more sensitive corals. 

[Reef Reece]

The one thing I was hoping not to hear !

But thanks for the heads up, did you do anything above and beyond or just remove what you saw and they eventually disappeared ?

 

Im hoping to find out their food source so I can limit that.

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Reece Barnard said:

The one thing I was hoping not to hear !

But thanks for the heads up, did you do anything above and beyond or just remove what you saw and they eventually disappeared ?

 

Im hoping to find out their food source so I can limit that.

Well I have a heavily fed tank due to my mandarin dragonet and my NPS corals... I fed fresh hatched baby brine shrimp which I think they like... I found that sea hares and emerald crabs ate the hydroids off the rocks but they never fully eradicated them. It’s not the end of the world if you aren’t able to get them out... maybe your tank won’t get a huge infestation... and even if it does they will probably go away eventually so I wouldn’t be overly worried. 
 

 

[Reef Reece]

Thanks for the videos ! I just bought an Emerald Crab this weekend and was looking at getting a Sea Hare, think they look great so I guess its just a waiting game for them to get onto the rocks and just try to keep it down as much as possible, thanks very much

[banasophia]

14 minutes ago, Reece Barnard said:

Thanks for the videos ! I just bought an Emerald Crab this weekend and was looking at getting a Sea Hare, think they look great so I guess its just a waiting game for them to get onto the rocks and just try to keep it down as much as possible, thanks very much

I love emerald crabs and sea hares... for sea hares you don’t want to get one unless you have an outbreak of something they eat (usually green hair algae)... they are ravenous but picky eaters and starve quickly if there’s nothing to eat in the tank. I usually have to return mine or pass them along to a local reefer about a week after getting them. Wish I could keep one long term, they are so cute!

[jservedio]

If you have the free-swimming kind that stick to your glass and look clear-ish, they will subside on their own and you don't have to do anything. You'll get a huge boom of them, they'll cover your glass, and then they will be gone forever. They are totally harmless.

 

If they look like they are living in little tiny opaque brown tubes in tight clusters on your rockwork (NOT glass), then they will 100% not subside on their own and they are colonial hydroids. This is what the "bad" colonial kind look like in my tank. You can see they are growing up against three different acros and losing ground - so they aren't really harmful, even to super sensitive corals. It's not something you want to get drastic with.

 

 

@banasophia, I'm pretty sure OP has the free-floating kind, not the Colonial Hydroids that you and I both have. When my tank was brand new, I also had the free floating kind and they blew up to thousands upon thousands of hydroids all over my glass and as quickly as they came, they went never to be heard from again.

[banasophia]

26 minutes ago, jservedio said:

If you have the free-swimming kind that stick to your glass and look clear-ish, they will subside on their own and you don't have to do anything. You'll get a huge boom of them, they'll cover your glass, and then they will be gone forever. They are totally harmless.

 

If they look like they are living in little tiny opaque brown tubes in tight clusters on your rockwork (NOT glass), then they will 100% not subside on their own and they are colonial hydroids. This is what the "bad" colonial kind look like in my tank. You can see they are growing up against three different acros and losing ground - so they aren't really harmful, even to super sensitive corals. It's not something you want to get drastic with.

 

 

@banasophia, I'm pretty sure OP has the free-floating kind, not the Colonial Hydroids that you and I both have. When my tank was brand new, I also had the free floating kind and they blew up to thousands upon thousands of hydroids all over my glass and as quickly as they came, they went never to be heard from again.

Yes, I believe there are lots of different types of hydroids... the ones you have in your tank are different than the ones I had in my 16... and I have yet another type in my 32 that are not colonial and seem to be totally harmless. In my 16, before they really spread all over my rock, I had some of the jellyfish form... I would still suggest scooping em out if possible while they are in the jellyfish form. 
 

I wouldn’t do anything drastic either, but I wouldn’t just leave them be.

[WV Reefer]

4 hours ago, Reece Barnard said:

Currently having an issue with Hydroid Jellyfish in my Fluval Evo 13.5.

They've obviously hitchhiked off a coral I've recently bought and they've started to multiply quite rapidly, not having any issues with them other than being unsightly on the glass. I scrape them off every 2 days and they stay in low numbers for a day at least but pop right back up. Internet doesn't bear much good info, usually people just saying they disappear after a few months and others who have said they've had them for years.

Im wondering if anyone has any info on their lifecycle at all, so I can help with treatment, such as whether a 3-day blackout would help ?

All my tank stats are on my profile, thanks in advance.

Agree with @jservedio they will go away on their own. They are only really a danger to sensitive creatures such as seahorses and pipefish. 

[Reef Reece]

Thank you all, made me feel a lot better about it

I definitely have the free floating kind so now its just a waiting game I guess !

 

 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, Reece Barnard said:

Thank you all, made me feel a lot better about it

I definitely have the free floating kind so now its just a waiting game I guess !

 

 

Definitely hydroid jellies.........those will disappear as fast as they showed up. 😊

[nanoreeFan]

I had them go away after time too.