myrionema hydroids

[christyf5]

Has anyone had any success killing these little buggers? I just found a whole wack of them on a rock and they are currently taking out one of my frags.

A pic for those that aren't sure what they look like:

http://members.shaw.ca/sumpfinfishe//images/brownworms.jpg

PS. I stole the photo from Sumpfinfishe :razz:

[Jim Barry]

Hi Christy,


Chocolate chip starfish were the only thing I could find that would eat them.

Unfortunately, the cc starfish will eat your zoo's and other things as well.

Hydroids spread like crazy, so get to them before you have a real problem and don't try to pick them off by hand. The stems will float around and attach in other places and make the problem even worse.

Good luck

[Willow]

i wonder if the dawn power scrub brush might work if you pulled the rock out and mowed them down in some tank water in a bucket. it sure worked on anthellia.

[christyf5]

They have their little butts firmly rooted in rock crevasses, I doubt the powerbrush would work when powerwashing obviously didn't :neutral:

[Willow]

did you try joes juice?

[Jim Barry]

I tried Joes Juice on them........ didn't work

[Delphinus]

Maybe try to epoxy over them. For smaller stands like that it might be worthwhile if it works.

[Beverly]

So THAT'S what those are :sad: Have some of them in my 37g. Am now interested in methods of getting rid of them as I did not know they were harmful.

[christyf5]

Maybe try to epoxy over them. For smaller stands like that it might be worthwhile if it works.

Yeah, I'll have to try that next, I'm just waiting for this frag to kick off (just in case there is something to salvage). Its the strangest thing, the polyps are out like nobodys business but the tissue is just hanging off the frag. Pretty sad to watch actually. :sad:

I also have these other things that I should post, I can't quite tell if they're the beginnings of more hydroids or anthelia. I'll post a pic tonight.

[Ruth]

Christy did you ever manage to get these things under control. I have one green star polyp rock that is now covered with these things. If I bannish the rock to the sump with that still allow them to spread to my display? I really hate to just toss the rock or epoxy the whole thing as the GSP are really nice ones but OTOH don't want them through my whole display.

[Beverly]

Ruth,

Don't know if I got them all, but while re-aquascaping my 37g a couple of weeks ago, I found lots of little groups of these hydroids. They grew mostly in crevices in the rock, and mostly on one rock, though there were a few groups of them on other rocks as well.

I used a heavy duty wire cutter to cut out the rock surrounding the hydorids. It took forever to cut around them and then to finally get to the base of them and cut them out. I also used tweezers to remove any chips of rock that did not automatically fall off the rock as a means of making sure I did not recontaminate the rock with stray hydroids I'd already cut.

I'm pretty confident this method worked on the hydroid groupings I found, but my fear is that I didn't get them all. Took over an hour to do about 25-30 lbs of rock from that tank.

Have not seen them in any of my other two tanks, but am particularly concerned that they may also be in my 67g as the 37g and 67g both have some rock from the same shipment.

[christyf5]

Christy did you ever manage to get these things under control. I have one green star polyp rock that is now covered with these things. If I bannish the rock to the sump with that still allow them to spread to my display? I really hate to just toss the rock or epoxy the whole thing as the GSP are really nice ones but OTOH don't want them through my whole display.

No Ruth, I haven't managed to kill any of the little buggers. I have two rocks that I think are covered with them. One rock is exactly like the photo I posted, the other rock sort of looks like maybe anthelia is starting on it, the "stems" aren't as thick and they only have 5 "rough" tentacles that remind me of anthelia. I'm actually thinking about taking both rocks out and boiling them.

BTW, you can get GSP off rock pretty easily, they sort of peel off in sections, just start it with a sharp knife. At least you could recoup some of them. Make sure they don't have any hydroids mixed in though.

[G1GY]

I had a couple groups of them in my 90.

Something in my tank got rid of both groups.(But I don't know what.)

I went out of town for a couple of weeks and just asked my wife to feed them when she remembered to.

Maybe they starved? :lol:

They're gone.

[sumpfinfishe]

Christy,

When we were at Mike's place last year I asked Anthony Calfo about them and he said the only way to get rid of them is manual removal. That's why I did the full rip down, they spread just like aptasia and pack the same kinda punch. If there localized just pull out the rock and break off the surrounding area's. If there on a small chunk of rock just remove the frag and remount it to another piece of rubble and nuke the entire rock.

Anthony also suggested that when removing the hydroids to do it outside the tank as if you loose pieces in the water column that will just make things worse. I also contacted Charles Delbeek on the topic and he gave me the same advice as Anthony, except Charles said to remove not just the top area of the rock crust but to take about an inch of the underlying rock as they bore fairly deep into the rock.

I thought that pic looked familiar :wink:

[kari]

wonder if blasting them with super glue would help

[sumpfinfishe]

Epoxy or glue is just a temperary solution as there bore about 1/2" into the rock, the hydroids over time will just grow up and around the masking area :twised:

[hockey nut]

You basically have to take the rock and bore the little buggers out. I spent a couple of hours digging those suckers out 3-4 pcs of rock. They will spread if you don't remove them.

hth

[christyf5]

So boiling isn't an option? :confused: The rocks aren't that big and manual removal would leave me with pretty much nothing but small rubble. I don't really feel like going out and buying more rock that might have the little buggers on them.

[Kabong]

I remember someone saying he got rid of them by roasting them with a torch. Which in theory whould work well as long as you dont have anything else attached to the rock.

[Bob I]

My experience is the same as C1GY's. There were some on my rocks, and just as I was beginning to worry about them they simply disappeared.:surprise: Maybe my large Emerald Crab took them out, but that would be pure speculation.

[Ruth]

I don't think I will be able to salvage any of the GSP as they are all through them. It is actually just on the one rock and I think I am going to try an experiment. I am going to pull the rock out and treat it with interceptor just to see if that has any effect on them. If not - oh well - I'll toss the rock.

[christyf5]

Are you going to try a really high dose? I've dosed my tank with interceptor 4 times and they're still there :confused:

[Ruth]

Yes I am. I actually just crushed up a 1/4 tablet of a 23mg tablet and dissolved it in about 5 cups of water. The rock is soaking in it now. Don't have any idea if this will work or not but seem to recall reading that panecur(sp) worked on these buggers and since that is a heartworm medicine - I think - it's worth a shot
I've really got nothing to lose as the GSP were going to be toast anyway and the rock is about the size of 2 of my fists so fairly small

[Beverly]

So boiling isn't an option? :confused:

Boiling the rock would kill everything on the rock, hydroids included.

[Samw]

Could you make some kalk paste and apply some onto them with an eye dropper while the pumps are turned off so that it doesn't blow off?

[christyf5]

Yes I am. I actually just crushed up a 1/4 tablet of a 23mg tablet and dissolved it in about 5 cups of water. The rock is soaking in it now. Don't have any idea if this will work or not but seem to recall reading that panecur(sp) worked on these buggers and since that is a heartworm medicine - I think - it's worth a shot
I've really got nothing to lose as the GSP were going to be toast anyway and the rock is about the size of 2 of my fists so fairly small

Keep me posted, I'm interested to see how this pans out :biggrin:

[Ruth]

Ok so I let it soak for about 4 hours and have just done a water change (100%). Quite a few of the hydroids came off and I still have the purple mat indicating that the GSP are still there. I am going to let it soak overnight - do a water change in the morning and see where we are at. A small brittle star and a couple of small brisle worms were also floating - dead.

[geopod]

OK I am looking at the pic bu what exactly am I looking for??

george

and no i dont have blonde hair

[Ruth]

The little brown fuzzy things that almost look like mini feather dusters all clumped together.

[Snappy]

You might try pulling the rock out, cut off what you can and then syringe a little bleach into the infested area while keeping the frag moist and protected with a SW soaked cloth. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes, rinse well and put it back in. Wait an hour or so and do a 10% water change to make sure the traces of chlorine are subdued. Might be worth a try. This of course would depend on your sense of adventure as well as where the the pesky beggars are located in relation to the coral. If that scares you maybe try using straight PH buffer, or something else strong that might kill it.
If it is a bad idea, you never heard it from me.........

[G1GY]

I remember someone saying he got rid of them by roasting them with a torch. Which in theory whould work well as long as you dont have anything else attached to the rock.

I don't know if you ever seen what happens to rock or concrete when it gets heated with a flame, but I can tell you that it isn't pretty.

The rock can and will explode sending chunks in every direction. The more pouris and damp the rock, the bigger the bang.

Nothing good will come out of doing this.

Sorry Kabong, but someone gave you bad advise on this one.