Hydroids!!

zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
I was SOOO close to being able to get them! I had just told my mom it's about time to buy horses and then i walk downstairs and see my walls covered in tiny tentacled death machines.

But first off i have a question. Mine look like white specs with tentacles. But what i read on here and everywhere else people talk like they are wierd things growing on rock in giant colonies and killing stuff. Did i ID these things wrong all these years? What do i have?
More importent question: How do i kill these stupid things?
since i can just take the snails out, there is nothing else besides bacteria in there, is there any easy/fast ways to kill hydroids in an empty tank?

I really don't wanna do this Fenbendazole stuff i read about and wait another two weeks

 
reefnutpa

reefnutpa

Member
From your description, you do indeed have a hydroid infestation in your tank. There are many different types of hydroids. Your description is typical, white spec with tiny tentacles on the glass. Those are hydroids. Colonial hydroids would be large groups that colonize on live rock or other areas. You do not have colonial hydroids. If you could post a pic, that would allow a positive ID, but just based on what you describe I feel confident that they are indeed hydroids.
I'm not familiar with how your tank is set up, but apparently you've unwisely added "live" items to the tank that carried hydroids (ie: live plants, live rock, live sand, snails, water from another tank, etc etc etc).
You have two choices at this point, IMO. Tear the tank down and sterilize everything and start over OR use panacur to kill them. Using panacur will make the tank permanently uninhabital for many snails, macro algaes, inverts, etc.
If you chose to start over, it would be best to use dry base rock and dry sand to start. You'll have a normal cycle period of 4-6 weeks, but the tank would be hydroid free and able to house anything. As opposed to keeping the tank 'as is' and using panacur.
Sorry not to have better news for you.
Tom
 
dingus890

dingus890

Member
They could have been brought in from the snails or the Scooter blenny.It is always best to have a Sterile tank for Dwarfs.
I have heard that you can turn the heat up to 95 degrees to kill hydroids.Take the snails out first.The high heat will kill the hydroids but not the bacteria.
Hope all goes well.It's always a bummer when your so close.
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
I've unwisely washed and dried the rock and sand before adding it. I've unwisely used cycled water from a tank clean of aiptasia and hydroids for months. Wait....what?
The thing i've unwisely done was add those stupid snails without a freshwater dip.
What i've done so far is stop feeding the tank phytoplankton completely. Hopefully this will help, since there is no other thing that could feed them in there that i know of.
I'm gonna look more into fenbendazole, but i think i will try this heating thing tonight. The snails will do fine with the rest of them in the main tank.
I'm also going to look into keyhole limpets, which i read somewhere are sometimes known to eat hydroids.
Most likely i guess i'll end up using this fenbendazole stuff, wait a week for it to kill the adults and the other stages that take longer to kill, and then wait around another week (or less/more??) to make sure they don't come back. Not sure how long to wait after the initial killing, but i do want to make sure nothing survived.
Could you tell me a bit more info about the heating, and how long it will take to kill off everything? Seems like a simple, yet doable solution if it works.
thanks
 
dingus890

dingus890

Member
Usually with Dwarf tanks everything including the water needs to be sterile as even though you cannot see the hydroids,they can be very tiny.
But the heat thing may work.I think you leave it at 95 for a few days.I think I heard this from Rykna in a post somewhere.

I know how you feel I just bought a regular clown for one of my tanks and checked it over,everything looked fine,this morning he has a white spot..AGH!
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by dingus890
http:///forum/post/2913725
They could have been brought in from the snails or the Scooter blenny.It is always best to have a Sterile tank for Dwarfs.
I have heard that you can turn the heat up to 95 degrees to kill hydroids.Take the snails out first.The high heat will kill the hydroids but not the bacteria.
Hope all goes well.It's always a bummer when your so close.
I heard this is a very good treatment too. Let the tank bake 3-5 at days at 95. man if i had only known this when I had my ponies! Sorry to hear about your infestation, I'm very glad that it didn't happen after you added the ponies! Make sure to take out and inverts,plants,etc. The LR and LS don't care according to the instructions.
 
dobber1111

dobber1111

Member
Okay, sorry to interject this apparently stupid question.
What the heck is a hydroid??
Been in the sw business only a short time. Six months.
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by Dobber1111
http:///forum/post/2919507
Okay, sorry to interject this apparently stupid question.
What the heck is a hydroid??
Been in the sw business only a short time. Six months.

Hydroids are nasty little hitch hickers that can/will cause disater in your tanks, especially seahorse tanks.
This is one of the smallest type of Hydroid. It looks like a miniature jellyfish.

Originally Posted by Britannica Online

hydroidhydrozoan
Hydroid colony.[Credits : Tims]any member of the invertebrate order Hydroida (class Hydrozoa, phylum Cnidaria). Hydroids have three basic life-cycle stages: (1) a tiny free-swimming ciliated planula larva about 1 mm (0.04 inch) long, which settles and metamorphoses into (2) a sessile (attached), usually colonial polyp
stage, which in turn liberates (3) a gamete-producing male or female medusa (“jellyfish”). This cycle is exemplified by the genus Obelia, whose members are widely distributed throughout the world. Many hydroids have, through evolution, suppressed the medusa by retaining it on the sessile hydroid colony. Colonies of hydroids are typically 5 to 500 mm (0.2 to 20 inches) or more high and are branched; the branches bear the individuals, or zooids (hydroid polyps). Each zooid consists of a tubular body that has two layers separated by a thin, jellylike mesoglea (layer of connective tissue), a terminal mouth, and surrounding circlet(s) of tentacles. The zooids are joined basally to a common living tube called the stolon that runs the length of the colony. The living tube, which is assumed to permit the exchange of food between individuals, is protected within a tough, chitinous sheath, the perisarc. Colonies of hydroids grow vegetatively by increase in the number of hydranths. Reproductive polyps (gonozooids) occur intermittently on the colony. They release either medusae (typically) or planula larvae (if the medusae are retained or reduced), depending on the species. Members of some species can retract their polyps within a protective extension of the perisarc, the hydrotheca, but others lack such a structure. Most hydroids inhabit marine environments, but some have invaded freshwater habitats. An example is the Hydra, a genus that has the distinction of being solitary rather than colonial. In addition, the life cycle of Hydra lacks a medusa stage. There are about 2,000 species of hydroids.
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
Ok, now I'm worried. About 2 weeks after I put the last batch of snails and hermits in my reef tank, these white spots started to appear all over my tank. I can't see any tentacle, but there are thousands of them. They are about the size of a straight pin head. I am charging my batteries for my camera to take a picture. They look like little white calcium spots.
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/2919914
Ok, now I'm worried. About 2 weeks after I put the last batch of snails and hermits in my reef tank, these white spots started to appear all over my tank. I can't see any tentacle, but there are thousands of them. They are about the size of a straight pin head. I am charging my batteries for my camera to take a picture. They look like little white calcium spots.
Those are mini feather worms. It's a good sign to have those. They are tiny filter feeders.
 
dingus890

dingus890

Member
Yes those are nothing to worry about just tiny feather dusters like Rykna said.I have a ton of them on the back wall of my aqaurium.At first I thought they were baby snails.But if you look REALLY close, you can see the little feather of the worm.
 
anjiro

anjiro

Member
Are Hydroids bad for reef tanks, my tank is three months in, and I noticed this thread, I have my cuc, a clown, star polyps, and zoos, and a fire shrimp. Please anybody pm me or post here, I dont mean to steal the thread so I would prefer pm's
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
I wouldnt worry about them in a reef tank. They are really only bad for dwarf seahorses and seahorse fry. They can sting them.
T
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by Anjiro
http:///forum/post/2920580
Thanks, one more ? will they go away, or does something eat them?
Once you have them, they are there to stay until you take drastic measures to eradicate the little pests. They can lie dormant waiting for the perfect combination of levels in your tank....high salinity....warmer temperatures...slight changes in your tank you would notice until it's to late.
Unless you have seahorses, as far as I know, they are harmless. I don't know of anything specific critter that likes to eat them, but I image something must.
 
anjiro

anjiro

Member
Doing a little research, I have found that there are a few scattered reports of them being eaten by Peppermint shrimp (competitor forum) and that a particular type of nudibranch does eat them Coryphella rufibranchialis. However, I know of not place where this sea slug can be purchased. Here is the site http://www.springerlink.com/content/x450301784461713/
Oh and they are not Harmless, in large populations they are particularly hurtful to both the aquarist and the tank in general, they can kill not only horses but fish and corals as well.
Also there is a product that is patent pending called Hydrocks that apparently can be used in the tank with little to no effect except on astrea snails, who exhibit a bit of discomfort
 
jjm

jjm

New Member
Originally Posted by dingus890
http:///forum/post/2913725
the heat up to 95 degrees to kill hydroids.Take the snails out first.The high heat will kill the hydroids but not the bacteria.
Hope all goes well.It's always a bummer when your so close.
Hi, I have a hydroid problem in my tank and am glad I found this website. Most of the hydroids in my tank are free-floating although many of the larger are attaching to the glass. Heating the tank to 95 degrees seems like the easiest way to get rid of them (that I can find using Google anyway), but I must ask this: I have caulerpa in my tank, will that be affected by the temperature? Apart from that my tank is almost entirely empty (only the hydroids and other things that came in the live rock).
Thanks in advance.
 
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