Hydroid infestation — now what

[mike550]

Okay. Thanks to @WheatToast help it looks like my tank is pretty well infested with Myrionema hydroids. The recommendations always suggest taking out the affected rock which I can do, but they are also growing on the wall of my tank. I’m trying to figure out whether I should (1) do a “rip clean” and essentially restart the tank or (2) try to pull out as much of the offending rock, scraping the walls and somehow collecting the hydroids, and manually cleaning it up.

Would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

 

[blaxsun]

How much wildlife (inverts, fish, corals) will be affected?

 

[mike550]

How much wildlife (inverts, fish, corals) will be affected?

Great question. I can rehome the fish and inverts to a couple of smaller tanks that I use for QT. Corals are nothing special and easily replaced.

 

[mike550]

Bumping my own post hoping for some help please

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay. Thanks to @WheatToast help it looks like my tank is pretty well infested with Myrionema hydroids. The recommendations always suggest taking out the affected rock which I can do, but they are also growing on the wall of my tank. I’m trying to figure out whether I should (1) do a “rip clean” and essentially restart the tank or (2) try to pull out as much of the offending rock, scraping the walls and somehow collecting the hydroids, and manually cleaning it up.

Would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Direct water flow towards them- NOT at them and they will starve and vanish. They favor brine shrimp and similar

 

[mike550]

Direct water flow towards them- NOT at them and they will starve and vanish. They favor brine shrimp and similar

Thanks @vetteguy53081 much appreciated. Of course, I feed frozen brine to my fish, so I'll be switching to pellets. Hah. I'll also direct some water flow towards them -- is this to keep them from filter feeding?

 

[ChiCity]

removing rocks, frag plugs and affected corals
and manually smothering with super glue
is another option…

albeit extremely labor intensive,
and unsightly for a little while
as things like sponges, coralline and the coral itself grow over

 

[HomebroodExotics]

What are you feeding the tank? Hydroids gotta eat so maybe you can stop feeding them. I’m not sure how a rip clean will stop them from coming back.

 

[JTP424]

I had a small infestation about a year ago. basically removed the things by hand DAILY, picked them off with tweezers and sucked out with a water change, rougher toothbrush worked well too. Takes times but worked for me.

 

[mike550]

removing rocks, frag plugs and affected corals
and manually smothering with super glue
is another option…

albeit extremely labor intensive,
and unsightly for a little while
as things like sponges, coralline and the coral itself grow over

Thanks @ChiCity I’m considering pulling out the offending rock and scraping down the back wall. If I can get the hydroids under control I’ll probably replace the rock with “new” rock since I want to re do my scape anyway.

 

[mike550]

What are you feeding the tank? Hydroids gotta eat so maybe you can stop feeding them. I’m not sure how a rip clean will stop them from coming back.

Thanks @HomebroodExotics I’ve been feeding frozen brine shrimp but now learning that I should switch to pellet or something else for now.

The rip clean is definitely drastic and to your point I can’t eliminate them but I need to get them under control.