Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

[Anonymous]

...something new and baffling pops up. My best guess is a hydroid. Whatever it is, it's growing.

 

[wiszmaster]

matt,

sure does look like hydroids ... better get it quick!
They love flow .... if you have anything pointed right at them .... move it. lol

 

[wiszmaster]

speaking off ... yesterday i picked up 400 lbs of LR from different people (tampa & orlando area) .... got home at 1am .. unlaoded till 3am.

after i posted, i went out to the LR bins ... and of course a few of these rocks have crazy amounts of hydroids on them.
Guess i'll get to cook some of them before throwing them into the system. :-(

 

[Len]

I've just recently seen some really weird stuff in my tank. But it's hidden behind rocks that I can't really get a good angle to photograph. There is a thing that is like a transparent/translucent white scallop.

 

[Anonymous]

I've just recently seen some really weird stuff in my tank. But it's hidden behind rocks that I can't really get a good angle to photograph. There is a thing that is like a transparent/translucent white scallop.

Is there any good angle to take a picture of your tank? :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I've just recently seen some really weird stuff in my tank. But it's hidden behind rocks that I can't really get a good angle to photograph. There is a thing that is like a transparent/translucent white scallop.

Is there any good angle to take a picture of your tank? :wink:

Yes, pointing the camera away from the tank. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I've just recently seen some really weird stuff in my tank. But it's hidden behind rocks that I can't really get a good angle to photograph. There is a thing that is like a transparent/translucent white scallop.

Is there any good angle to take a picture of your tank? :wink:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Canarygirl]

Matt

Are you thinking the hydroids are the white ones at the top of your photo (not the other stuff in the middle of the frame)?

I ask because I think I have some of these white ones too.

 

[Anonymous]

Top of the frame is a coral if I'm not mistaken. Looks like his carnation.

 

[Anonymous]

 

[Anonymous]

Got a full tank shot Matt? Can't remember seeing your tank?

Oh, and I think you're right about the hydroids. Not that I know one tenth what you do about all this, but fwiw...

 

[Anonymous]

Got a full tank shot Matt? Can't remember seeing your tank?

I've been too lazy to lug my camera into work, so no there aren't any good recent ones. My sig has some pics when I first set it up.

 

[TheJGMProject]

what's the best way to get rid of hydroids, and what do they do to reef tanks?

 

[Anonymous]

what's the best way to get rid of hydroids, and what do they do to reef tanks?

Great question!

There are a ton of different type of hydroids that occur on live rock. Some, like these guys...

...can rapidly proliferate only to crash after a few months and never be seen again. My guess is that they cannot survive some part of their life cycle in a tank.

The picture below is some type of digitate hydroid. I have some of these in my current tank. I had a lot more when I first got the rock. They have dwindled down, despite feeding lots of small foods to the tank.

Some people have these reproduce in their tank, but for whatever reason they don't seem to reach plague proportions.

The most common type I've seen are these little guys that look like feather dusters...

...that can methodically spread across live rock, particularly in heavily fed tanks. I have some of these in my current tank as well, although they've stayed in a very small patch. They have a proteinaceous base (not calcareous like corals or tubeworms) that is tough but flexible like leather.

What do they do? They sting corals and fish, and they're mostly unattractive.

How to get rid of them....there's a tough one. In Volume 1 of The Reef Aquarium Delbeek and Sprung mention hydroids as a pest but don't offer any really good solutions to eradicate them. There are undoubtedly nudibranches that eat hydroids, but the track record of nudibranchs in reef tanks suggests that they'd quickly get sucked up by a pump, starve to death after consuming the hydroids, or just simply disappear. Peppermint shrimp won't eat them, and I am hard pressed to think of a fish that would consume them and not consume corals. Maybe some butterflies could work. For small patches, you can simply rip them off and then smother their bases with epoxy. This has worked for me in the past.

 

[TheJGMProject]

thanks for the thorough answer i have seen a few of these hydroids in my tank. time to pull some weeds.

 

[Anonymous]

Got a full tank shot Matt? Can't remember seeing your tank?

I've been too lazy to lug my camera into work, so no there aren't any good recent ones. My sig has some pics when I first set it up.

Thanks Matt! Don't know why I missed your sig...

Looks very promising. Now I'll have to start periodically hassling you for updates. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the thorough answer i have seen a few of these hydroids in my tank. time to pull some weeds.

well done indeed!