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Digitate Hydroids predator?

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15K views 59 replies 6 participants last post by  Neomaxmaya  
N
#1 ·
Hey guys, so I got Digitate Hydroids in my tank.
They are starting to spread and sting everything in the tank! :mad: and its overwhelming taking them out with a tweezers as they are A LOT :eek:
what predator would finish them? I read somewhere online that 6 lines wrasse may mown on them?
any though is appreciated. :)
 
W
#2 · (Edited)
I'm tagging along. I've found no answer.

The only way I've been dealing with it, is removing whole rocks, and blasting the rock with a Propane Pencil Torch. Frying them off.
(The burning is done outdoor, with fan, gloves, googles....You have to be safe for any toxic smoke that may come off rocks, like a fried Zoa, Paly with Toxinx)
Then soaking the rock for a while before putting back.

But they spread and spread. My whole 90 Gallon tank has a hydroid here and there, and everywhere. I've treat only the worst rocks.

I tried using one of those Aptazia Zappers that I use to control Mushroom and Palys. Works on the Palys, but Hydriods keep coming back.

Wish there was a predator (like Copperband for Aptasia, or Emerald Crab for Valonia Bubble Algae), but I don't think there is.
 
W
#6 ·
Well Happy New you to both of you.

I wish I had an Alcohol Hang Over, when I pulled out this Rock last week.

This is my 90Gal Kitchen Tank. There are a few hydroids here and there.

See that Hole/Cave in the middle.
Image


This rock below was pulled out last week, and this is what I found on the back side. The Hydroid Queen Rock!!

Image


It was worth nuking!! Actually it not going back till it's fully dead, cured.
 
N
#7 ·
so i found this article on Reef2Reef talking about a complete cure for Digitate Hydroids: http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/here-it-is-fenbendazole-use-against-hydroids.214950/
and one of our facebook group guys recommended it as it killed all of his hydroids by following the exact instructions in that post. he although said one of his GSP heads is dead which the method creator warned about. they say that you can use it in your tank directly if you isolate all snails and GSPs alone. attention should be paid when you isolate them not to take with them any digitate hydroids that could find a way back in your DT.
i got the Fish Bendazole of Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B009TAQ4OI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and waiting for the package to arrive. ill use it on my tank and report back the results.
 
W
#8 ·
That appears to be "Fenbendazole" as quoted above. VET stuff.
Will be looking into this.
Snails can be sacrificed (only 5-6). I only have a tiny piece of GSP, that I worry about anyway, since it can become a nuisance weed.
Will be doing more research. And certainly keep us posted.

If this works it will be amazing. I know somebody else that has been struggling with Hyrdriods for years.
 
W
#9 · (Edited)
I am going to try the Hydriod Remedy.

I have a QT tank. It already had some frag plug with Hydriods on them so nothing in this QT will touch my other tank till it is sterilized anyway.

I can bring in a few Hyrdoid rocks (Have another Smaller Hive), and can bring in some test corals.

It will be totally isolated and not wipe out my tank.

Image
 
N
#10 ·
This would be very cool if you can do so!
Make sure you follow the post from Reef2Reef in terms of dosage and time and ill start the treatment once i get the package on my DT, i only have few Zoas and an elegance coral that is suffering from their stings.
Let`s keep our fingers crossed!
 
N
#12 ·
nc208082 said:
It does work. I have done it as a dip.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Thanks for the confirmation! although its almost impossible to use it as a dip as i see the DH everywhere in the tank, even popping out of the sand! so will treat the entire tank with it, and hopefully it wont kill much of corals!
Thanks again :)
 
W
#15 ·
I have to feed my Zoa's and Paly's, Acan, etc. I feed Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy, and other fine coral foods. Target feeding by syringe.

But I did notice when I dosed ZeoVit Sponge Power, the hydroids did better, so I stopped.

Anyway, they have to be eliminated, so I can feed the corals again. (Slow down is not good enough, since they end up lurking in deep crevices where you can't see them. Like the rock I showed.
 
W
#14 ·
send a pic of your corals. (And how hydroids are stinging them)

I have hydroids everywhere. Zoa and palys everywhere.

I don't see hydroids stinging yet. Maybe they are, but I can't tell.

Wondering how it happens.

But yes, I don't want that to happen so I am going to order the medication and start the experiment ASAP.
 
W
#18 · (Edited)
So here is the Hydroid TREATMENT PLAN (Kill plan might be a better word) with the little piece of GSP I have.

It's only a small GSP piece that hasn't even grow much off the plug.

Image


I'll cut it into two.

One for the QT tank where I'll be doing the FIRST TEST treatment.

The GSP piece should get killed, and that will be proof dosage is strong enough to kill the Hydroids.

Then I'll trial a few coral frag cuts. A Zoa, Frogspawn, Paly, to make sure they are not harmed.

Plan is I'll treat most of the ROCKS I can EASY remove in the QT, but then at the end I may treat the Display Tank. That's when the 2nd piece of GSP will be observed. Once it's dead and gone, the hydroids should also be gone, and proof the Tank Dosage was strong enough. I have no idea if I have enough to treat 100Gallons of water in DT.
 
C
#20 ·
I've had a small amount of hydroids on my live rock for like 10 years. I periodically remove with tweezers but they've never got crazy or even moderate. A long time ago I used to worry about them but again they've just never gotten out of hand. That being said I wouldn't mind finishing them once and for all.

I am more interested in Fenbendazole as a possible clove polyp treatment. I have tons of purplish brown tiny clove polyps covering large chunks of my live rock that were brought in on some long forgotten coral. That stuff spreads like crazy and I periodically remove live rock that doesn't have many corals on it and brush them off.

Of course I have gsp, gorgonians and other corals that would fall victim to this stuff so I'd have to isolate the infested rocks. Does this stuff effect leather corals we well?
 
W
#21 ·
This stuff is dangerous. Will wipe out tank biology and cycle it.

Do you own research before using the stuff.

My plan is to just use it to dip treat in my QT tank the infected rocks.

Even that can be risky since rocks will absorb the chemical. Maybe not that much if dip treatment is short.

I have plenty of time to experiment in my QT.
 
W
#22 ·
Queen Hydroid Rock Clean (Take 1)

This isn't the Dip Method, but I cleaned up the First Queen Hive Rock.

Just soaked it in diluted Vinegar for a hour.
Then in Fresh water for a few days.
Then back in Salt Water for couple days.
Blow torched it, and plucked it with cutter.

Now it soaking in my QT Tank for final cleanup Polishing and bring it back to life.

Image


I kind of like this method since it's pure and chemical/medicine free.

Risk Free, but all corals have to be removed.

I couldn't do this to all my rocks, so hoping the dip method will work.
 
W
#23 · (Edited)
I'm back.

I ordered a few pouches of the Fish Bendazole. They arrived. Pure Bedazole Power.

Been thinking on how to use the stuff.

Dangerous to dose a whole tank. But Possible using the direction in post above. Still risky, on my very biologically stable tank. Not worth the risk.

Tough to remove each rock and treat in my QT tanks, but possible for easy to remove rocks.

But that leaves me with Loonie sized patches of Hyrdroids here are there on rocks I can’t remove (LARGE BASE ROCKS).

I was thinking doing the best I can with the removable rock, and I will do that anyway.


I came up with another idea.

I can spot treat the tank Hydroid patches with Bendazole. Kind of like dipping the rocks (but IN MY TANK).

The idea is I build a mini DOME on a stick, to cover the Hydroid Area (an treat with Bendazole). Only FLAT ROCKS that the dome could seal over well, and I have a few areas like that.

Two air lines to the dome.

I dome over the hydroid patch. Inject some concentrated Bedazole using two syringes, but one sucks out water (so I keep the dome pressure equal, and nothing leaks out).
After treating, I inject clean salt water and suck out the Bendazole.
Sure some will leak into the tank, but minimal. (To montor leakage, I could add food coloring to the treatment, or something like Coral Snow which is very cloudy).

It would take two people to run the syringes, maybe a third person to keep the Dome on a stick in place.

I still have to design some kind of dome that would seal around the treatment area.

I would test this in my QT, with some Star Polyps I have. Since star Polyps are super sensitive to Bendazole, if I can treat a rock in my QT and not affect the Star Polyps it would be a success.
Even if they are slightly affected, this is not dosing the tank with whatever concentration it would take to treat a whole tank.

What do you think?
 
W
#24 ·
IMPROVMENT on Idea above.

I just came up with a better design.

Still use sealed dome idea. Still use two air lines.

But no Syringes. Syringes could work, but mechanically tricky even with two people to create Zero pressure or negative pressure..

How about a vacuum. Not zero pressure.

Start a siphon on one airline. Water gets drawn into dome from tank (2nd line is close, but higher at the source side)

2nd line is in the treatment liquid (in a small jar) controller by a "airline valve". If you open the valve, it draws the treatment solution, which passes thru the dome, and out the siphon line.
Almost nothing enters the tank, but treats the hyrdroids in a bath of the Bandazole Solution.

To monitor for leaks, the treatment solution would have food coloring, or Zeovit Coral snow (Cloudy liquid).
Any seepage out of dome would be clearly seen, to create a better dome seal, or stop treatment.
 
N
#25 ·
This way seems promising and very careful. However, Doing it individually, you may as well remove them mechanically by chipping part of the stone, and save yourself the headache!
but trust me, once DH in the tank, it will spread everywhere! and you be battling it forever.
Now here is my experience:
90 Gal tank and 20 Gal sump. I've got "Fish Bendazol" early January from Amazon.ca and dosed my tank exactly how they described on Reef2Reef. 1.5mg per Galon.
Of course I removed all snails and my GSP to a QT.
shat down the skimmer and reactor.
kept dosing Seachem stability (1 cap per day) and Nutrafin Waste Control (1/5 cap a day).
I've let the tank run for 30 hours then did 25% water change. ran the skimmer and added new AC in my reactor. all DH melted after 30 hours, but I was still seeing them dangling from the rocks.
after 2 days, I did 10% water change and refreshed the AC. ran the tank for a week, and all DH are GONE! nothing at all!
Pros Vs cons:
got phosphate spike due to skimmer off and of course the water quality wasn't great.
Got some hair algae on my rocks (2-4mm long) under the direct light.
my GSP didn't make it in the QT as my QT is new and im not that familiar of how they work, I added my snails after a week and they are now pissed and not moving well!
One of my Zoa rocks is not happy that much as half of the polyps are still closed.

However, my Elegance coral is opening up now for the first time in 2 months. it was very close to death until I treated the tank.
Bunch of other Zoa rocks (I have a lot of them) are fully open and super happy!
my Favia brain coral is also recovering its dead side due to stinging DH.

What could I've done to improve the experience?
I'll get an algae scrubber for nutrients extraction
I would reduce or remove all lights.

Last word:
I highly recommend this method if you have A LOT of DH that you cant manage individually.
you need to stick to the instructions and dosing amount religiously! to avoid drastic crash.
As you are medicating, you need to expect a minor lose to save the rest of your inhabitant.

Good luck and keep us updated :)
 
W
#27 · (Edited)
Maybe I'll try the full treatment after I build an 2nd Algae Scrubber for this tank.

I had algae problems in my 65 Gallon SPS tank, so I built a DIY Algae Scrubber into my Sump.

It's been running a few months and not a spot of Algae.

The Algae Scrubber Build is here with all the Details.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2570553

I'm kind of a Algae Paranoid Freek, since I've struggled so much over the years. Algae was my downfall each time.

Two years ago when my SPS tank struggled with Algae, I experiemented with all kind of sails, Crabs, and Sea hare to see what worked best. That experiment is here . http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546249

My Son and I used those photo's and videos to make a Lego Brickworks Type movie called "Algae Wars", which is a Star Wars Parody.

First Episode was released Christmas 2015, and 2nd just this last Christmas.
The ending Episode 3 will probably come next Christmas.

Here they are.

MAYBE THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL (HYROID WARS :) )

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALGAE WARS - Episode-1 (The Plan)

Image


Image


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALGAE WARS - Episode-2 (The Weapon)

Image


Image

Hope I'm not side tracking this thread....

Anyway. I'll post more on my Hydriod spot treatment testing.
 
N
#29 ·
WOW!! Stunning tank! Now I get what u mean ur tank is stable and no need to mess with it.
I've gone through all ur posts and Man U have so much time and patient! I liked how systematic u r and how u research throughoutly everything!
And ur dome tool looks promesing. Just keep all pumps off while medicating and refresh ur AC after every treatment.
I suggest u spot treat for 6-8 hours if possible just to make sure the DH absorbs the medic.
Keep us updated and good luck :)
 
W
#30 · (Edited)
Thanks.

Here is what I've decided to do.

This is the 20 Gallon (2x10) Experimental Setup I have.

The one I used for the Dome test.

Image


I'll set it up to run two experiments for the Bendazole treatment.

1) Using Water Change Water from my Display tank I'll setup a 19 Gallon System.
2) It has a skimmer, overflow-Sump that can hold carbon, and a tank for hold a Few Hydriod Rocks, plus a couple of test corals (Star Polyp, and few Zoas, [ Few Green Palys] and a [LPS Fragspawn which I have plenty of]

3) I'll create a two solutions from the exact right amount of Bedazole powder to treat the 19 Gallon of water in the system.
3a) The first solution will be stronger to do the Target Treatment
3b) The 2nd solution will be the remaining of powder (Combined solutions will be good enough to treat the whole 19 Gallon)

4) I'll test the Target treatment method, step back and observe results. (See how many spot treatments I need to really kill a Hydroid Patch).

5) Then treat the whole system and see how corals react. Do a proper water change, recovery, etc.

The whole system treatment (#5) won't be done for my display tank, but if I do consider that option sometime in the future, I'll know what to do with the practice run.

.....what I'll do is remove all the corals (Except the grown over Green Palys), snails and just treat the rocks and wipe out all the Hydroids. Let the rocks and biology recover. And bring back the corals. (Fish Stay in DT).

This last step above is exactly how I got that Kitchen DISPLAY tank stable (The hydroid Tank), but not for Hydroids, but for ending years of Algae and Cyano. (Will I do it again. Not sure, probably NOT. Unless the Hydroids get totally out of control).

My main goal at this point it to perfect the Target treatment, and do as best as I can to Spot Clean up the Hydroids that I have.
 
W
#33 · (Edited)
MOVING FORWARD (Screw the Target Treatment)

So my Hydroids are getting worse. Looking really healthy and spreading.

Now I see them popping next to Zoa's and stinging them.

My favourite LPS Torch is receeding, while all other are fine. (Could be a tiny hydroid I can't see)

The QT tank that I left alone with some Hydroids has Hydroids spreading in there. (YUCK)

So I'm preparing a 15 Gal Water Change from DT.
Will fill up the QT with fresh DT water.
Will do a full treatment (Bendazole) of 15 GAL QT Tank, and a removable rock loaded with Hydroids (and some sample test coral in there for observation of treatment).

I know it will work, but this is to learn the process, get concentrations right, and learn practice post treatment clean up.
 
W
#34 · (Edited)
QT Setup for Full Tank Hydroid Treatment with Bendazole (Sample Rock, Few Corals)

I plan to start small in the QT Tank. Will learn the process and then depending how things go, treat the Display tank.

- I picked out a nice rock Infested with Hydroids
- A few sample corals included (GSP, LPS Frogspawn, Zoa's & Palys, Mushroom)
- There are few Brittle worms (Expect them to get zapped too)

For now I just fed the tank some Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy and Polyp Booster to get Hydriod to get into Feeding mode.

Once Corals and Hydroid acclimatize I'll treat the QT tank with the Bendazole.

Image
 
W
#35 · (Edited)
We see how things go with the QT treatment, but after setting up the experiment I got thinking that the DT treatment will be too drastic.

What caught my attention when removing the Hydroid invested rock is my tank (rocks,etc.) are loaded with bristle worms. When the Bendazole kills off the Hyroids it will also kill off a ton of bristle worms in my system (DT and Sump). Plus other small organisms that are affected by Bendazole. (I don't know what the target spectrum is for Bendazole).

I can't remove the bristle worms like I can snails, and stuff. They are in every nook and cranny that I can imagine.

That large amount of die off will certainly not be good.

Might be more idea to treat rock by rock in QT for an effective Hydroid reduction.

Not a total wipe out but should get things under control. Much better than tweezer plucking rocks on rock putty cover up in DT.

If I want to go more aggressive, I can wait till spring/summer and do a mini-tank tear down, and treat rocks in large Rubbermaid bins (on my deck which is right next to my DT).
 
W
#36 ·
Almost ready to treat. Corals are acclimatizing a bit more.

Want to get QT in an better state (lighting Adjustments, Circulation etc).

I want corals looking good, to have a true observation of any negative impacts.

I setup a way to observe, a bit better than Daily Photo's.

A handy Wi-Fi WebCam that takes still photo's once every so often is great for a time-lapse playback of the treatment as it happens over time.

Image
 
N
#37 ·
Man im following this progress. keep it up!
An update on my end, Digitate Hydroids vanished after the first treatment, however, 2 weeks later I started to see some DH popping out from under the rocks. I reasoned it due to under dosage method procedure ive done as I was too scared to aggressively medicate the tank. so I went and re-dosed again with proper dosage.
that said, just last night, I noticed a small one under another rock (2 weeks after the second treatment). :confused::confused::eek::eek::mad:
as I said, I lost all my snails, and GSP. nothing else was affected during the treatment other than some extra algae due to no skimmer on.
good luck again!
 
S
#38 ·
I saw posts saying peppermint shrinp worked for them. So i thought i might give it a try. Bought the peppermint shrimp and the first day home i watched a digitate hydroid touch the peppermint shrimp and the shrimp jumped imediately. So i doubt he will eat them.

Also i was tired of listening to hear say about digitate hydroids and so i put my hand in the tank to intentionallly touch the hydroid and i didnt feel a sting. But i have seen a coral retract upon being touched by a hydroid.

Goodluck with ur plan

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk
 
W
#39 ·
Still Planning before I actually treat. Even in QT.

Sure I'll pull the easy rocks and treat them in QT, but I was look over then tank and they are everywhere.

Without a full tank treatment or taking out all rocks, it's only buying time till they come back.

Then while looking at my QT setup I got an idea.

That Hang on Overflow is portable.

Why not isolate my Sump, put all the snail in here and small things.
Put bigger corals into QT tank.

And use the Hang On Overflow, with a separate empty Rubbermaid tub, and run the treatment on the tank (But not the sump).

The sump is loaded with Live Rock, critters, brittle worms & star brittle worms.
They will recede the tank after treatments.

This will allow a stronger dosage of Bendazole, to ensure they don't come back in the DT.

Fish stay in DT since treatment is fine for them.

** KEY THING is my Tank is Glass Bottom, so no sand bed and Tons of worms and stuff dying there **

Yes Hydroids may be in Sump, but that's a bigger journey, and might last a while.

This picture shows what I mean.

Image


This is all just thinking out loud. Not sure what I'll actually do yet.
 
S
#40 ·
I totally forgot that i did test on one of those hydroids. I put a digitate hydriod that was on a empty snail shell in a little tupper ware container with tank water. I then added coral revive to the water as reccomended. It took about twice the recommended time for dipping corals for the digitate hydroid to die.

It would be interesting to see the effect with either higher concentration with shorter duration or long duration with low concentration.

Unfortunately i do not have a quarantine tank to try the second method.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk
 
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