Growth/pest help

[mfollen]

Hello everyone,

I noticed that one or two of my frags have this weird tiny sized polyp growth/takeover along the sides of the zoa polyps.

I was curious if anyone has any experience or knows of what this is and what the best method of treatment is (dip, etc.)

Attached is a picture.

Thank you

 

[ritter6788]

Hydroids?

 

[mfollen]

That's it!

Thank you very much - I'll do some research into the rest.

 

[ritter6788]

I don't know what kind of foods you feed but I've had those pop up when using coral foods like Reef Chili, Coral Frenzy and such. When I stopped feeding the corals the hydroids went away.

 

[impur]

I've had those in my tank for 10 years, nothing kills them. They must be able to feed off light, and also be able to go great lengths of time with no light or food source being added to the tank (at least 30+ days). Just a tiny speck of them will turn into a new colony. They can live out of the water for at least a week. They will sting any coral they come in contact with. I have lost SPS and many zoas too these buggers.

I have had to resort to a product called Hydroxs, a dipping regimen along with manual removal, and using 3 different tanks to get rid of these. Its taken me about 8 months of this and I finally have about half my corals and rocks hydroid free.

Get rid of them as soon as you can. I would toss the whole coral if I were you, they are that bad.

Oddly enough, the only critter I've had that will eat them is emerald crabs but they won't eat them all the way down and the hydroids always regrow.