Eliminating Hydroids

[Anonymous]

I've got hydroids in my tank which look identical to the ones pictured in the hitchhiker faq. They're starting to spread and I think may have caused the meltdown of some of my xenia by stinging.

Does anybody know a good way of getting rid of these things?? Right now, I go into the tank daily with a pair of tweezers and am pulling them out one by one. Considering each cluster has 6-10 hydroids each, and I have a dozen or more clusters, it's going to take me a while, and I'm have a hard time reaching some. Are they photosynthetic (can I just cover them up)? They grow on the tops and sides of rocks.

Here's the hitchhiker faq pictures.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Anonymous]

Just a friendly bump ^

 

[Mouse]

Below ill give you a couple of methods to reduce the population.

Natural Method

Copperband butterfly / peppermint shrimp

Chemical Method

Hyperdermic injection with kalkwasster delivered to the foot of the hydroid pest

Going to kill all of these bastards if its the last thing i do method

Take out each and every rock infested with the little buggers and scrubb them off with a wire brush in a bucket of SW, then give a final dunking rinse in a bucket of FW.

Be strong my freind for your foes are many, and decapitation will only make them grow faster, you must obliterate them.

 

[JennM]

Holy cow I've got these too

And in my seahorse tank too

I had no idea what they were.....they looked neat!

They have done no harm that I am aware of...

OY!

Jenn

 

[Anemone]

Mouse,

Are you sure you're talking about ways to get rid of hydroids? Your statements are identical to the ways one attacks Aiptasia anemones - and I can't imagine trying to inject Kalk into the base of a hydroid.

Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

Bob, I remember yours, they were much bigger than mine. Mine are about 0.5 cm long. I've managed to eliminate a few patches--it may be taking a while, but I believe I'm making progress. I basically go over the tank once a day with a pair of tweezers and do a little harvesting.

Ty

 

[JennM]

Aside from stinging corals and interfering with fish fry, how else are they a nuisance?

I've taken a closer look and there are more there than I thought....ugh but before I hit the panic button, I want to be sure there is a good reason to remove them.

I don't keep but a few frags in that tank, along with my seahorses. They don't appear to have harmed the horses.

I'm going on a search now....but any experiences would be appreciated.

Jenn

 

[JennM]

Well I've done some more reading....looks like Peppermint shrimps, blood or fire shrimps and keyhole limpets will work too.

I'm siding with keyholes since I'm afraid that my seahorses will EAT the shrimps

Jenn

 

[thereefzone]

Tyoberg,

I think you may have been to our house in san jose for the reef get together a few months ago... If not I had a ton of hydroids in my 110 gallon tank, I was planning to move the rock out of that tank to our 300 gallon tank and I ended up throwing away about a hundred and fifty pounds of rock because I could not get rid of the hydroids!

If you only have a few you should get rid of the rock that they are on now, if they get out of hand you will not be happy. I tried everything I could think of including scrubbing the rock and returning it to the tank and they would keep coming back. I also tried a copperband and he did nibble at them but I think that only helped them spread throughout the tank.

I am sorry for the bad news but if you can stop them before they get out of hand that would save you a ton of grief!

Bob.