Advanced woes...

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Wow, I just cant catch a break.

First it was two separate blackouts that wipeout my tank TWICE and clam killing parasitic worms. Then I had more aptasia than rock which after debating with myself for over a year I finally add a copperband butterfly which proceeds to eradicate every last one in under ONE week.

Problems just get more complicated... Now I am facing BUBBLE ALGAE AND HYDROIDS! Everything is growing GREAT, acropora, montipora and birdsnest corals growing faster than weeds. Only problem is that the hydroids are as well.

At this point, I either have to find some people that can lend a hand to do some MAJOR scrubbing or I have to find a way to start over. Which means taking out EVERYTHING that is alive, nuking my liverock and letting the tank cycle before putting everything back.

While I freely admit that there are a lot of people out there that know more than me, I am no newbie. Anything that CAN be dealt with I have, it's these real tough problems that keep biting me in the posterior.

Anyway, just needed to vent. If anyone has any ideas on dealing with the above, please chime in. Hydriods are everywhere. Not to mention the blue ridge coral that is one of my first mistakes in reefkeeping- the crap just cant be killed! I took out the rock and sanded it off with a dremel tool, it has now grown back and is growing at a rapid pace as well...

-Alfred

 

[LeslieS]

Are these the type of hydroides that you are talking about? My snails used to be covered in them. The hermits and emerald crabs ate them.

 

[bad coffee]

my emerald crabs take care of most of the bubble algea. There's a bit here and there but I don't mind. I've never had hydroids in plague proportions, so I can't help you there.

 

[ellebelle]

When i came back from vacation, I had a lot of bubble algae. I ripped out everything I could see with a pair of tweezers and put in a couple of emerald crabs. I haven't too much of it come back since then. Can't help with they hydroids - good luck!

 

[digitalreefer]

I'm happy to give you a hand scrubbing or breaking down if you need it. Drop me a line and we'll see what we can do.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Thanks. I am in the middle of moving half of my stuff out of this apartment and preparing the baby room. Perhaps one Saturday?

BTW: The hydroids I have are not the tube kind, they are the kind that come loose and float away to attach somewhere else. They lay down a "net" linking all of the "polyps" and have spread over 5-6 rocks. Unfortunately 1 rock has 4 corals growing on it and the others are part of the rockwork.

-Alfred

 

[inline6]

i guess there are different types of hydroids.
The ones I had were firmly attached to my LR which my pencil urchin scrubbed right off.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

I have heard so many conflicting experiences with pencil urchins. (But this means nothing- I also heard the same about copperbands and Regal angels and have never had a problem with either!)

Has your pencil urchin gone after anything else? I have a few zoos, anthelia and polyps.

-Alfred

 

[inline6]

I have heard so many conflicting experiences with pencil urchins. (But this means nothing- I also heard the same about copperbands and Regal angels and have never had a problem with either!)

Has your pencil urchin gone after anything else? I have a few zoos, anthelia and polyps.

-Alfred

I gave it to a fellow reefer after it cleaned and polished my LR.
He'll hold it for 6 months and then i take it back. However he did say that it somehow wrapped itself around his blue linkia starfish, not sure if it was trying to ingest it or what. The only problem i can see w/these guys is that they are strong in that nothing will get in its way of good algae.

In short they can bulldoze your LR.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Did it bother any of your SPS, softies or polyps? If not, I may try buying a small one and plopping it on the spot with hydroids. By the time it ate them all it would be the size of a grapefruit...

The same great conditions for my SPS are making the hydroids very happy. This only started happening after I upgraded to 400W MH...

-Alfred

 

[LeslieS]

Was it a pencil urchin or a mine urchin? I bought a mine urchin from Sea Life that was advertised as a pencil. I still love it, but they are two different urchins with different behaviors so make sure you are getting the correct one.

 

[inline6]

Did it bother any of your SPS, softies or polyps? If not, I may try buying a small one and plopping it on the spot with hydroids. By the time it ate them all it would be the size of a grapefruit...

The same great conditions for my SPS are making the hydroids very happy. This only started happening after I upgraded to 400W MH...

-Alfred

No didn't bother a thing, except for anything that wasn't nailed down.

It was a pencil urchin.