White hairs under coral HELP

[Subsea]

Are the white hairs soft or brittle? In my 25 year old refugium, I have many white hairs. They are calcareous.

When you scrubbed off white hairs, was it flexible, soft, mushy or was it brittle

. For people to help you, you need to help with information.

 

[thejuice24]

I’d say some sort of species of tube worms. You said earlier that you brushed them off. Where the they hard or soft?

 

[FRANK GRAZIANO]

Whatever it is corals don't like it

 

[FRANK GRAZIANO]

They are more hard then soft

 

[FRANK GRAZIANO]

It is more hard then soft like the hair on a beard.

 

[Subsea]

Hair on a beard is flexible. Calcareous tube worms in my refugium are not flexible. When I rub firmly, they crush up and disintegrate like dust.

 

[KJ]

Bryozoan.

 

[Subsea]

Whatever it is corals don't like it

If it is not calcareous, a hydrogen peroxide dip will oxidize it. Brushing hairs off the coral plug does not remove the infestation. Identifying the exact species is not as important as a game plan to eradicate the undesirable without killing the desirable. Hydrogen peroxide is indiscriminate as an oxidizer. If your problem is an algae base or a bacteria base, hydrogen peroxide will oxidize and sterilize everything. Slim coat protects the coral. I soak 10 minutes in 10% solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide and tank water.

 

[Michael Naegeli]

I had very similar growth on a Frag of fruit loops. The little white “hair lookin things”. I just scrubbed off w a toothbrush a couple times and they went away. They were really intertwined into the base of the Zoa’s too. I was actually surprised they died off rather easily w no treatment, just a little scrubbing. That was months ago and haven’t noticed anywhere else.

 

[Brew12]

Bryozoan.

Good call KJ. I agree.

 

[Subsea]

http://www.gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html

I have bryozoans in my system. Nothing that looks like those white hairs. Look at second live rock picture. Bryozoans are sponge like but more primitive. They come in many colors of yellow and orange predominately. Much of Florida lays over Bryozoan limestone deposits.

 

[Subsea]

@KJ

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/bryozoans-moss-animals

My exposure to Bryozansis is limited to live rock from Gulf of Mexico. I googled it and found this first, which discribe “vine like growth”.

Family:
Various families in phylum Bryozoa (most freshwater bryozoans are in the class Phylactolaemata)

Description:
Bryozoans are microscopic aquatic invertebrates that live in colonies. The colonies of different species take different forms. Most are attached to a structure such as a rock or submerged branch. Some colonies are rounded, jellylike masses. Others resemble antlers or mosses (bryophyte means “moss animal”), trace delicately like vines across rocks, or create furry colonies. The species that creates the round, jellylike masses is Pectinatella magnifica.

Each tiny individual bryozoan (zooid) is attached to a surface at its base. Its body has an outer sleevelike structure (cystid) and a mass of organs (polypide) that moves within it. An opening at the top of the cystid permits the polypide to slide outward toward the water, exposing a headlike structure (lophophore) crowned with tentacles, which filter food from water. At the slightest disturbance, the polypide and tentacles retract instantly.

 

[Brew12]

@KJ

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/bryozoans-moss-animals

My exposure to Bryozansis is limited to live rock from Gulf of Mexico. I googled it and found this link which discribe “vine like growth”.

Family:
Various families in phylum Bryozoa (most freshwater bryozoans are in the class Phylactolaemata)

Description:
Bryozoans are microscopic aquatic invertebrates that live in colonies. The colonies of different species take different forms. Most are attached to a structure such as a rock or submerged branch. Some colonies are rounded, jellylike masses. Others resemble antlers or mosses (bryophyte means “moss animal”), trace delicately like vines across rocks, or create furry colonies. The species that creates the round, jellylike masses is Pectinatella magnifica.

Each tiny individual bryozoan (zooid) is attached to a surface at its base. Its body has an outer sleevelike structure (cystid) and a mass of organs (polypide) that moves within it. An opening at the top of the cystid permits the polypide to slide outward toward the water, exposing a headlike structure (lophophore) crowned with tentacles, which filter food from water. At the slightest disturbance, the polypide and tentacles retract instantly.

Without putting one under a microscope it would be tough to say for sure but I feel they look like a chitinous Ctenostomata growing in a stolon pattern.

 

[Brew12]

Hmm.. pic didn't attach

 

[FRANK GRAZIANO]

Thank for your help when it was on my GSP I scrubbed it and did a dip on it . It went away and the polyps all came out again. The shelf coral I just scrubbed so we will see if it works if not I will dip it too.

 

[40B Knasty]

Looks like a bacterial bloom or a fungus bloom. Take some out and put some methyline blue on it. If it turns blue. It is a fungus. If it does not. It is a bacteria. If it is a bacteria bloom it will clear itself out on its own. If it is a fungus. Use a toothbrush to scrub it, point your powerheads at the rock for a good week, and clean out your filter/mechanical media's daily. It is an ugly phase of the hobby. I had white hairs exactly like this. They just went away. Without doing anything.