The H word

GillMeister · Dec 4, 2020

It's hard for me to say this, but admitting you have a problem is the first step.

I have hydroids.

At first I was in denial. 'Oh, it's just a string that got caught on a rock', or 'i saw it yesterday but it's gone today so it's not a problem'.

Truth is I have probably a manageable number of them and I'm looking for a way to nip them in the bud. I hear Fish Bendazole kills them, but might kill your reef. I have Prazipro which is reef safe but I don't know if it kills Digital Hydroids.

Does anyone have experience with these treatments?

Why don't we have a special sub for aquarium pests?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 4, 2020

To rid of them as they can sting neighbor coral, simply starve them. They favor brine shrimp.
Discontinue brine and sim water flow towards them, not at them to prevent them from reaching for food. They will starve and die off

GillMeister · Dec 4, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
To rid of them as they can sting neighbor coral, simply starve them. They favor brine shrimp.
Discontinue brine and sim water flow towards them, not at them to prevent them from reaching for food. They will starve and die off

I'm not sure I'm understanding. Send water toward them but not at them? I'm not wrapping my mind around it. Hopefully you can explain in a way I can follow. Thx.

GillMeister · Dec 5, 2020

Too early to say this worked, but the result so far is promising. I diluted some prazipro and basically saturated the spots where I saw the hydroids with a baster. They retracted immediately and I haven't seen the ones I treated since. I left a couple alone as a control and they are still active. I'll hit them tomorrow and see if they recover.

If this works, I may have stumbled on a safe way to keep these things in check.

ZoWhat · Dec 5, 2020

Try the M word

M A J A N O S

Bought a frag from a LFS like 7 years ago....that had one unsuspecting tinie tiny majano on it and now 7 years later still fighting dozens of them in my 180. They are impossible to get rid of without chiseling off your coral and going with all new LR.

ZoWhat · Dec 5, 2020

........

GillMeister · Dec 6, 2020

skimjim said:
Try the M word

M A J A N O S

Bought a frag from a LFS like 7 years ago....that had one unsuspecting tinie tiny majano on it and now 7 years later still fighting dozens of them in my 180. They are impossible to get rid of without chiseling off your coral and going with all new LR.

Ugh. I've been lucky in some regards I guess. The first thing I do is try to find something that eats the pest in question. No such luck with majanos?

Idoc · Dec 6, 2020

GillMeister said:
Too early to say this worked, but the result so far is promising. I diluted some prazipro and basically saturated the spots where I saw the hydroids with a baster. They retracted immediately and I haven't seen the ones I treated since. I left a couple alone as a control and they are still active. I'll hit them tomorrow and see if they recover.

If this works, I may have stumbled on a safe way to keep these things in check.

Keep us posted!

GillMeister · Dec 6, 2020

Idoc said:
Keep us posted!

So far, it looks promising. The spots I treated don't show any signs of re-emergence. I'll keep monitoring and reporting.

GillMeister · Dec 8, 2020

This isn't working, unfortunately. It's like whack-a-mole. The ones I hit with a heavy dose of prazi seem to stay down but they're popping up elsewhere. I'm going to try fenbedazole next. I'm a little concerned about the effect it might have on my coral, though.

Auto-pilot · Dec 8, 2020

I had them for about 6 months in my tank. After a while they all just died off never to be seen again. Mine didnt sting mycorlas

GillMeister · Dec 14, 2020

The whack-a-mole approach with prazi didn't work. I'm taking the leap with fenbendazole before the digi hydroids get out of control. Other than snails and a little xenia, what else should I worry about? I have cyphastrea. Will that survive? It's not a goniopora and it's not a true SPS. It's somewhere in the gray area.

Cole.mormon · Dec 30, 2020

Did it work?

GillMeister · Dec 30, 2020

Cole.mormon said:
Did it work?

Nope. I posted my findings on the 14th. Basically, the prazi worked but it was impossible to isolate every hydroid and kill it. I went with fenbendazole and that looks like it cleared out about 99 percent of the infestation. I went longer than the recommended 30 hours, though.

Tired · Dec 30, 2020

Are they spreading? Sometimes hydroids just stay in one spot, or die out on their own.

GillMeister · Dec 31, 2020

Tired said:
Are they spreading? Sometimes hydroids just stay in one spot, or die out on their own.

They were spreading like wildfire but now I only see an occasional, tiny hydroid.

GillMeister · Jan 6, 2021

I might be overly optimistic but it appears my hydroid problem might be resolved. I dosed with fenbendazole twice. The first dose was per twillard's instructions and it knocked the hydroids down but not out. I decided to run a second dose but to leave it in the tank for over a week without a water change. I've seen a few dwindling hydroids and this morning at 6am, I couldn't see evidence of any in my tank. Time for a water change!

danieyella · Jan 6, 2021

Mine resolved themselves back when they were showing up in my tank. I never treated for them or did anything special. They were there, then they weren't