This is developing everywhere in my aquarium

[didou]

1 week ago there was a few and now it's starting to spread everywhere in my tank, can someone identify this for me ?

Is it bad for my tank and what can I do to get rid of it ?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hard to say for sure from the pic, but it looks like an invasive octocoral (soft coral) of some kind. Some are invasive enough that they completely take over tanks, so you probably want to try and get rid of it.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Looks like xenia or anthellia. Very invasive corals. It's not bad for your tank, it will just take up all the space on your rocks, and you won't have any where to put corals.

 

[didou]

Hard to say for sure from the pic, but it looks like an invasive octocoral (soft coral) of some kind. Some are invasive enough that they completely take over tanks, so you probably want to try and get rid of it.

Looks like xenia or anthellia. Very invasive corals. It's not bad for your tank, it will just take up all the space on your rocks, and you won't have any where to put corals.

I see, what's the best way to get rid of it?
Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I see, what's the best way to get rid of it?
Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Sorry, it posted before I could type - I know the below is recommended for at least some invasive octocorals, so it may or may not work for yours:

The only solutions I've heard for blue clove polyps aren't reef safe (they might kill off other things in the tank), but the most common treatment I've heard is Fenbendazole. Someone else used Lugol's Iodine, but they also lost some corals from that. Some people say kalk paste or super glue may work, but I haven't seen many people reporting success with it. The links below may help:

Invasive purple clove polyps

Does anyone know how to kill off invasive clove polyps? They’re starting to spread and envelop my acans and I don’t want them swallowing my garden.

www.reef2reef.com

Eliminating Blue Clove Polyps with Fenbendazole

A few years ago, I purchased a rock that had some beautiful Space Monster zoas on it. It also had some Blue Clove Polyp on it as well. I saw the BCP, I knew it was there, I really didn't worry about it at all because I had no idea what it could become. Fast forward....its now everywhere. Its...

www.reef2reef.com

Not sure how to help with removing the mushrooms and palys though.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Sorry, it posted before I could type - I know the below is recommended for at least some invasive octocorals, so it may or may not work for yours:

What about manual removal? Have people tested methods on that?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

What about manual removal? Have people tested methods on that?

Yeah, the problem is that you have to get literally all of it, and these can drop pieces that regenerate into new colonies as you remove them - so you have to be super careful and super thorough or you'll make it worse (if the infestation is too bad, it's basically a lost cause to begin with).

Some of these corals are invasive enough that people have literally torn down tanks to get rid of them.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Yeah, the problem is that you have to get literally all of it, and these can drop pieces that regenerate into new colonies as you remove them - so you have to be super careful and super thorough or you'll make it worse (if the infestation is too bad, it's basically a lost cause to begin with).

Some of these corals are invasive enough that people have literally torn down tanks to get rid of them.

Yeah this is why I'm glad my lfs was out of xenia when I went to buy some

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah this is why I'm glad my lfs was out of xenia when I went to buy some

Yeah, Xenia is one of the less invasive kinds - blue clove polyps and similar are known to be among the worst:

some that can look like this include Clove Polyps, Sympodium, Sarcothelia, or Anthelia (I don't know how to tell them apart at this point, unfortunately).

Sympodium is known to be fine (i.e. not invasive) as it's relatively slow growing and easy to contain. Some of the others are fine, but certain kinds of Clove Polyps, Sarcothelia, and Anthelia are know to extremely invasive

(Wow, pardon my typos in the quote above, haha).

 

[didou]

Sorry, it posted before I could type - I know the below is recommended for at least some invasive octocorals, so it may or may not work for yours:

Thanks for the info, I hope I can manage to get rid of it

 

[apb03]

This looks like a blue clove polyp invasion I had before. The way I got rid of it was using a stainless steel wire brush over the area once every few days. Eventually I got it to the point where it was unable to spread and my nearby mushroom Corals eventually overtook what remained.

 

[didou]

This looks like a blue clove polyp invasion I had before. The way I got rid of it was using a stainless steel wire brush over the area once every few days. Eventually I got it to the point where it was unable to spread and my nearby mushroom Corals eventually overtook what remained.

I will try this