I have noticed in the cheato in the fuge there are these hair like strands that appear to be fishing, they extend and then jerk back. I have read that they appear to be Digitate hydroids but I get mixed info if good, bad, or ugly. Any suggestions to if this is bad or not and if so what to do.
Digitate hydroids I think
- Thread starter roundman
- Start date
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
No these are definately digitate hydroids from the sound of it. And yes they do retreat. Its a single strand that's slightly thicker at the tip which is where the mouth is. They can get up to 2-3 inches long but still not thicker than a millimeter. They are white, sticky, and are nearly impossible to get rid of and apparently stick a potent sting although I question that.
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
The ugly - The guy at cap bay with the glasses told me horror stories of tanks that looked like carpets of hair algae that were actually digitate hydroids. So yes it can be very very ugly. He also said nothing will eat them. Also the folks in the seahorse forums dread these like the plague as they will decimate fry. In our reef tanks they will irritate the crap out of any zoanthid colonies they are near. I haven't seen them do much to sps or lps though. Its been reported that these things have a very potent sting, but other reports are to the contrary... go figure.
The bad - trying to get rid of them? Nearly impossible. You have to kill the base to kill the entire thing and the base is always tucked away in some nook that you can't get to. They reproduce by budding at the base and then the fully formed bud will detach and find a new spot.
So what eats them? Nothing that I know of. some people have said peppermint shrimps, others have said foxfaces. I'm betting non-reefsafe butterfly fish would feast on these things... but I don't think there's a reefsafe alternative.
The good - They eat pods. That's a good and bad thing I guess. The good thing is that if you nuke your pods with intercepter and then seed it later with pods, these things will die off. The bad of course is that if you have fish that are dependent on pods they need to be rehoused.
The best news about these things is that honestly... they're not a big deal. They will irritate zoanthids from what I've seen, but that's about it. I have some in my tank and at first I was killing them nightly. Then I talked to Melev who said they're not a big deal at all. Also I got tired of the senseless killing and just let them do their thing. Melev was right, they are not a big deal. There are still some in my tank, but aside from tickling zoanthids here and there they are harmless.
The bad - trying to get rid of them? Nearly impossible. You have to kill the base to kill the entire thing and the base is always tucked away in some nook that you can't get to. They reproduce by budding at the base and then the fully formed bud will detach and find a new spot.
So what eats them? Nothing that I know of. some people have said peppermint shrimps, others have said foxfaces. I'm betting non-reefsafe butterfly fish would feast on these things... but I don't think there's a reefsafe alternative.
The good - They eat pods. That's a good and bad thing I guess. The good thing is that if you nuke your pods with intercepter and then seed it later with pods, these things will die off. The bad of course is that if you have fish that are dependent on pods they need to be rehoused.
The best news about these things is that honestly... they're not a big deal. They will irritate zoanthids from what I've seen, but that's about it. I have some in my tank and at first I was killing them nightly. Then I talked to Melev who said they're not a big deal at all. Also I got tired of the senseless killing and just let them do their thing. Melev was right, they are not a big deal. There are still some in my tank, but aside from tickling zoanthids here and there they are harmless.
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
Yah they're kinda cool to watch.
