Markan
New Member
Hello everyone!
First-time poster, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section.
Also, I do not speak English natively, so please bear with me.
At the beginning of the year, I started my first reef tank. It is a 16 gallon tank which I chose to scape using live rock. From the very beginning I noticed this tubelike growth on the rock, which I later on was identified as colonial hydroids (the first of images shows one of the tanks larger ones). They are the tubular ones, rather than the "stringy, bushy" ones. That is good, from what I have read, as they are not as invasive.
One of the larger colonial hydroids
Some potentially useful observations I have made of them:
- Oddly enough they do not form "colonies", as I have seen them pictured online, but can mostly be found growing solitary.
- They can be found on all of the individual pieces of live rock I have in the tank and on almost all of the parts of the rocks, but in varying concentrations.
- They seem to be more successful in dimmer areas of the tank, as they are more concentrated to the underside of the rocks. I have also found all of the larger ones on the underside of the rocks.
- They cannot be found on the few pieces of dry rock I have put in the tank (primarily in the refugium and as a substrate for some corals). Neither can they be found in areas where I have split the live rock (in other words, the core of the rock).
Methods of removal I have tried so far only include manual removal with tweezers. It is practically impossible to get all of them, as some are very tiny and easy to miss and others are located in nooks and crannies. I did also only remove the tube and it is likely that it will regrow from the mount on the rock.
Full tank shot before the latest removal session. Note that the hydroids are very hard to notice. They are either very small or located on the underside of the rocks.
The result of the latest removal session, using tweezers. I tried to the best of my abilities to remove every colonial hydroid. The pictures might give an impression of the size
of the colonial hydroids, as well as their numbers.
Now to the matter of discussion. In the upcoming weeks I will upgrade the tank to one with a volume of approximately 55 gallons. What I need to decide is whether or not I should move my existing rocks to the new tank and supplement with additional dry rock (cured in advance, of course) or go with only dry rock to completely get rid of a potentially future colonial hydroid problem. I would certainly prefer to keep the live rock I have now, as it seems to be very mature with good coralline algae growth. It would for sure make the transition to the new tank easier and render it more stable. But if the colonial hydroids are as much as a nuisance as I have heard, it might be worth it to ditch the rock and start fresh. So far they have not been of much problem though. They mostly grow in shaded areas an they do not multiply very quickly (if at all, it is hard to assess) and their increase in size is not very noticeable. The consensus on what to do about these things seems to be split. Some say they will go away by themselves and others explain how they have multiplied and killed corals or even taken over entire tanks. Maybe there are different variants of colonial hydroids, where some are more of a threat than others?
What action do you think I should take in this situation? Is it justified to ditch mature rock because of these critters? I feel like it is a bit too drastic, but will I regret in the future if I keep the live rock? How do you think the population of colonial hydroids will fare in the new tank, provided I keep the live rock? Will they spread to new dry rock? Please share thoughts and recommendations on the matter, especially if you have been in a similar situation yourself.
Thank you!
First-time poster, so forgive me if I post this in the wrong section.
Also, I do not speak English natively, so please bear with me.
At the beginning of the year, I started my first reef tank. It is a 16 gallon tank which I chose to scape using live rock. From the very beginning I noticed this tubelike growth on the rock, which I later on was identified as colonial hydroids (the first of images shows one of the tanks larger ones). They are the tubular ones, rather than the "stringy, bushy" ones. That is good, from what I have read, as they are not as invasive.
One of the larger colonial hydroids
Some potentially useful observations I have made of them:
- Oddly enough they do not form "colonies", as I have seen them pictured online, but can mostly be found growing solitary.
- They can be found on all of the individual pieces of live rock I have in the tank and on almost all of the parts of the rocks, but in varying concentrations.
- They seem to be more successful in dimmer areas of the tank, as they are more concentrated to the underside of the rocks. I have also found all of the larger ones on the underside of the rocks.
- They cannot be found on the few pieces of dry rock I have put in the tank (primarily in the refugium and as a substrate for some corals). Neither can they be found in areas where I have split the live rock (in other words, the core of the rock).
Methods of removal I have tried so far only include manual removal with tweezers. It is practically impossible to get all of them, as some are very tiny and easy to miss and others are located in nooks and crannies. I did also only remove the tube and it is likely that it will regrow from the mount on the rock.
Full tank shot before the latest removal session. Note that the hydroids are very hard to notice. They are either very small or located on the underside of the rocks.
The result of the latest removal session, using tweezers. I tried to the best of my abilities to remove every colonial hydroid. The pictures might give an impression of the size
of the colonial hydroids, as well as their numbers.
Now to the matter of discussion. In the upcoming weeks I will upgrade the tank to one with a volume of approximately 55 gallons. What I need to decide is whether or not I should move my existing rocks to the new tank and supplement with additional dry rock (cured in advance, of course) or go with only dry rock to completely get rid of a potentially future colonial hydroid problem. I would certainly prefer to keep the live rock I have now, as it seems to be very mature with good coralline algae growth. It would for sure make the transition to the new tank easier and render it more stable. But if the colonial hydroids are as much as a nuisance as I have heard, it might be worth it to ditch the rock and start fresh. So far they have not been of much problem though. They mostly grow in shaded areas an they do not multiply very quickly (if at all, it is hard to assess) and their increase in size is not very noticeable. The consensus on what to do about these things seems to be split. Some say they will go away by themselves and others explain how they have multiplied and killed corals or even taken over entire tanks. Maybe there are different variants of colonial hydroids, where some are more of a threat than others?
What action do you think I should take in this situation? Is it justified to ditch mature rock because of these critters? I feel like it is a bit too drastic, but will I regret in the future if I keep the live rock? How do you think the population of colonial hydroids will fare in the new tank, provided I keep the live rock? Will they spread to new dry rock? Please share thoughts and recommendations on the matter, especially if you have been in a similar situation yourself.
Thank you!
