Hydroids

Hydroids, these hydroids are nasty little things that pack a strong sting. They are thin tubes with tentacles coming out similar to a duster but the tentacles sting whatever they touch. IME this type of hydroid can multiply quickly in nutrient rich conditions but with in my system I noticed when I stopped all filter food and lightly feed the tank their numbers greatly decreased. There are now very few in my system but the ones that are still there are causing havoc.

If anyone has any pictures or additional information they would like to share on the Hydroids, please feel free to post it here.

[coral_diver]

Just wanted to add that hydroids can be free swimming also they look like teeny tiny jellyfish you really have to look for them or they can go un-noticed. They look like a spawn of stick looking swimming things in stage one prior to the jellyfish look. Hydroids are introduced often by non-decapsulated brine! Please decapsulate when possible. These guys are horrible if you have seahorses and are impossible to get rid of perminatly unless you use diamox a dewormer however this is not totally with out impact on the "worms" in your tank ie bristle, tube ect and some snails can be affected. Hydroids can also attach to the glass of the tank and look like cracks or tree like really you will know them. Sorry I dont have any pics of either of these anymore however seahorse.org is a great source if ever needed since alot of us seahorse keepers have battled them unfortunatly. I hope no one has to deal with these ever!

[Toan]

picture of a hydroids in my tank, after learning about this i put it in my FOWLR tank, too bad the rock all these hydroids are on, is hosting 12+ green mushrooms and its hard to cut the mushrooms off with a razor because of the hydroids hard calcium tube is blocking

http://l3eamerl3oy.com/DIBS/feather1-small.JPG
http://l3eamerl3oy.com/DIBS/feather2-small.JPG
http://l3eamerl3oy.com/DIBS/feather3-small.JPG

[Mako8500]

Ive notice i have a few in my tank what harm do these creatures cause so i can either kill or remove them?????:454:

[gman0526]

Very hard to erradicate, there's no known predator of these, I have some in my tank I just live with them, just make sure they're not near any of your corals beacuase they'll sting. Also seahorses are a no-no in a tank with hydroids.

[Mako8500]

thanks g man

[Mako8500]

I got something called a dremal drill ILL DRILL um out HA HA !!!!!!ILL PICK OUT THE ROCK AND KILL THE LITTEL BASTERDS WITH CLOVES OF COURSE:454:

[gman0526]

That will work :D , just keep an eye on them, since they might come back :( they're resilient little buggers.

[Toan]

yea you might have to take it out of the water, and then you can actually push them off, they snap easily but be sure to have gloves, because they sure are sharp buggers

[Mako8500]

:12: It looks good mybe ill get the three on the otherside tomarrow i have a couple of small critters still live on the rock and there doing good after i dremaled the buggers off <watch out for the frags they still sting ><outch > but lets see ,i saw the cracks in the tank maybe there trying to spred ,it looks like a minny bb gun shot the inside the tank. quese its the gellyfish stage im more resistant then them ill chase them and KILLLLLLLLLLLL <LOL>:12: :admin3d:

[Mako8500]

THANK YOU GUYS !!!!!!! did i tell u........ I LOVE THIS FORUM

[crayonponyfish]

this is quite amazing. i suspected that i had hydroids in my 8 gallon nano tank and after reading all this im positive. i had a clown goby die after being in the tank for only a day. my yellowprow goby started swimming around all crazy so i pulled him out and dropped into another tank and hes fine now. then i purchased a peppermint shrimp, thinking it could eat whatever the culprit was, and he died almost instantly.
this all happened after my tank had sat for 8 weeks with only live rock a mushroom rock and several mat zoanthid rocks. my crabs seems unaffected. i was waiting until i returned from a vacation to put fish in since i had lost a black clown already.
the really bizarre thing is that while i was on vacation i went scuba diving for the first time and got stung bad by some hydroids on the mooring line. that got better in a couple of days but started acting up again after i came home and did a water change and some tank cleaning. i thought it was just the saltwater exposure that reactivated it but now i know it was my tank. and ive had stinging in my hands since putting them in the tank yesterday.

would coral dips work to get rid of these? should i just start over again? any suggestions? im guessing the small size of my tank just makes too great a concentration of stinging cells for fish or shrimps to live. my zoa's and mushrooms are thriving though. its all too amazing. ha.

[Suppressive Fire]

i got some hydroids and my gsp are growing over them lol

[Remington]

And now I know what's been stinging the crapola out of me.

I saw a few of those on a zoa frag I got for my tank. Thought they were mini dusters....

I wonder if they can grow and thrive under 1/4 inch of epoxy?
Bwahahahahah!!!!

[Mako8500]

I used a dremal drill on mine to get rid of them because they bury them self in the rock beyond the caseing they live in and its been two weeks and dont see none yet but im watchin closely ,i havent had any fish die but i also have a 90 gallon tank with lots of room so that could be why no dead fish but i hope you loose no more fish to those basterds,good luck let us know how you do!!!!

[Toan]

crayonponyfish, im not too sure with what you said is the actual cause of your fish dying , especially the shrimp

how are you acclimating these in your tank?
doesnt sound like hydroids could kill your fish and inverts so easily..

[Gimis66]

Wow Every time I come here I learn something new! I thought they were mini dusters too. I now think I know what has been stinging me. They are on a rock with my Gorgonian. I think I'm going to try Remington's idea and cover them with epoxy. Does anyone think it will harm anything in my tank?

[Remington]

I use the grey 2 part epoxy to attach ALL my corals in my tank. It stands out a bit, but in a few months the coraline should take care of that. I heard about using it for anchering rocks and corals on another boards and have yet to have any problems.

And several hours since and I have yet to see these little buggers poke their heads out though this stuff.

If it can be drilled AND tapped for bolts I doubt they can get through it. But we shall see.

[crayonponyfish]

I didnt think it was possible for the hydroids to be killing my fish either but I also only had my hands in there for a matter of minutes on two separate occasions and I have stings all over both of them.
I acclimated them the same way we've done all our fish and whatnot. float the bag for 10-15 and then slowly add small amounts of water watching to make sure there is no freak out then let them slide out of the bag with a little water still in. they were fine for a day or two then one died. before he died he was breathing fast. I thought he ate too much since I have quite a build up of copepods in my tank.
the other guy was swimming around like crazy. like he wanted out bad. and that was after a week in the tank.

maybe it was not the hydroids that killed him but I have them in my tank for sure. just wondering how to get them out. seems like maybe there is no way out. there are so many in there.
has anyone used a coral dip before? im thinking about dipping everything and cleaning out the tank and starting with new sand and water.
any thoughts?

[Toan]

i dont see how you guys are getting stung either.. i used to have plenty on this one rock, and i touched it all over with no harm, however i did get poked by one because they're so sharp, other than that.. thats it

[chineseknife]

I am a bit perplexed as well. It is possible to "catch" things from your tank water. Any open cuts, scrapes, or sores can become infected. Some folks are more prone to this than others due to their skin sensitivity.
Your fish did not die from hydroids.
toan is right, their tubes are very sharp, but other than that, no worries.

Fortunately I have never seen the tube type in my tank. Only hydroids I see are in the cryptic areas, stemming off some lr, no tubes.

[crayonponyfish]

well. I left it alone for a while. took out everything and rinsed it. scrubbed the tank and replaced water and half of sand. after putting everything back in many hydroids were still free swimming. so I got smart and got a 6 line wrasse. I figured that wrasses will eat most anything so why not try it.
worked perfectly. everything is better now.

[Bwlr]

I had a different type of hydroid in my tank.
http://www.horizonview.net/~bwlr/hydroids02.JPG

Smaller stalk, and when they spread they were attached by looked like a small brown thread. The polyp in the upper right hand corner of the pic is one of a gorgonia. These things were small, and spread FAST.

[specsgirl]

An easy way to get rid of those is to cover them up with underwater epoxy. Just smother them and you can control them.