Hydroids?

[omard]

Or just little itty bitty tube worms? Really do have them growing all over tank. Even some on the backs of snails -

(little tubes sticking up out of brown polyps)

(click on photo to enlarge)

[amcarrig]

Hydroids

[omard]

Crap. Here I was just not long ago congratulating myself on never having a case of ICK, no aptasia, no bad algae problems (other then when just starting out)...

Only nuisance I ever had to deal with were asterina starfish, which just kind of took care of itself. Just find now and then.

Have been reading about hydroids all afternoon. Gazillion different kinds. Some benign, some not so.

Really not as pervasive in tank as I let on to in original post. Really just limited to one small area of tank.

I think I may have had them forever, just paid no attention.

They do not seem to spread very fast.

Have seen no adverse affects on other corals.

Appears to be best thing I can do is pull them out one by one with a pair of tweezers.

Ugly job, but that is what I am going to do. And just learn to live with those I can't get to.

[ziggy222]

i have stomatellas and a emerald crab that keep visiting a rock in my tank that has hydroids.the patch keeps getting smaller and its almost gone.its hard to say whats happening cause emerald crabs and stomatellas are not supposed to eat them.

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by omard

Have seen no adverse affects on other corals.

Appears to be best thing I can do is pull them out one by one with a pair of tweezers.

Ugly job, but that is what I am going to do. And just learn to live with those I can't get to.

Unfortunately, sps corals are more sensitive to the hydroid sting than most lps and soft corals so they can become a nuisance if you keep alot of hard corals.

Plucking them off with tweezers is pretty much the best, non-dramatic way to deal with these critters so keep at it and good luck.

[njdevilsfan]

i had what i thought was hydroids and just put superglue gel over them

[omard]

Originally Posted by amcarrig

Unfortunately, sps corals are more sensitive to the hydroid sting than most lps and soft corals so they can become a nuisance if you keep alot of hard corals.

Plucking them off with tweezers is pretty much the best, non-dramatic way to deal with these critters so keep at it and good luck.

Well that is good news anyway, as I don't have a single sps in the tank.

[omard]

Originally Posted by amcarrig

Hydroids

Not hydroids after all, but vermitid snails. ( thank goodness!) - still a nuisance but one I can deal with as they up to now only growing in certain areas of tank. Population seems pretty stable...must be my hermit crabs keeping them in check.

hard to see clearly in my pics...but this is exactly what they look like up close:

(ReefKeeping)

Vermetid snails are relatively diverse; over a hundred species have been described, and some of them are commonly found in aquaria. Although several species are found occasionally in our systems, generally entering on live rock, one variety in particular may become very abundant, and be a serious nuisance in some systems. This species, probably the most common, is small, with a brown, reddish, or purple shell. Interestingly, the animal is difficult to identify, although that has not stopped numerous reef aquarists from doing so. It probably is Spiroglyphus annulatus, which is a small vermetid originally from the Caribbean. However, similar small species live elsewhere in the world, and they all look pretty much alike. It will probably take genetic testing to verify the identity of our aquarium friends. Whatever species it is, this particular one has small individuals. The tube seldom is over one or two millimeters wide. The shells are typically reddish or reddish-brown; sometimes they are even tinged with violet. The animal forms a small, calcareous shell mound and then sends up a short, three to five millimeter long, vertical stalk. The upper edge of this tube may be razor sharp, and may inflict rather nasty cuts. A few of these would be no real problem; however, this animal reproduces very well in marine aquaria. Left unchecked, it can reach populations of over several thousand in a few months. They prefer high current areas, and will infest and clog plumbing, significantly reducing water flow. In severe infestations they can clog and shut down pumps. The only solution in cases like these is physical removal of the animals using whatever method is easiest (a muriatic acid bath works well).

Fortunately, some fishes such as Copperband butterfly fishes, seem to eat them, and some hermit crabs will eat them as well. Eating these worm snails may well be the only truly beneficial effect of hermit crabs in aquaria.

[Tangster]

Thats why I'd tell anyone to get themselves a Australian Cpperband and have it in their tanks all the time great fish and eats everything but corals aptaiias Majaos many hydroids and most pest. But you have to be sure its an Australian copper band.

[amcarrig]

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the "forest" of brown polyps, not the thicker sticks sticking out of them. That's why I thought they were hydroids because of your description and the fact the polyps (which I thought were hydroids) were colonial.