Getting rid of Hydroids

So it appears that all of the sudden some brown Hydroids are popping up around the tank. I recently removed my emerald crab, so I'm not sure if he was helping keep the population down or what. Anyone know of successful ways to get rid of these? I've heard kalkwasser paste, peppermint shrimp, and some type of little snail.

Help please.

 

Are you talking about colonial hydroids?

I actually did have a few colonies and I am not sure if it's coincidental or not but within a week of adding my flame angel, there was no more colonial hydroids to be found.

If it's a small colony can you remove the rock it's on? You can nuke the rock and it will take care of those little guys!

 

I've heard good things about peppermints. UV sterilization should also help to kill spores before they can attach. Sometimes a tank just needs to balance back out though, so you might try waiting it out for a little bit first.

 

Yes, I believe that is what they are called. It's on a couple of small rocks so removing it will be my last resort as I'll have to pull out about half the rocks to get to it.

 

My personal experience with the type of hydroids you have, was that over the course of 1 year or so, they spread to areas around my corals.

I choose to nuke my rock, but I do not know that peppermint shrimp were an alternative, nor use of a UV.

Today if I found an isolated patch I would just take some underwater epoxy and cover the patch completely for a week or so.

Good luck.

 

I definitely want to avoid them spreading. With the epoxy could I just peel it off after?

 

Yeap, if you make it/shape it big enough it's easy just to grab and pull off. I use it occasionally for turf algae that pops up in my tanks.

If you have a skimmer the epoxy will make it really foam for a day, so watch the collection cup.