ID and good or bad

[BC Mosaic]

I got a frag of blasto on a small piece of live rock (13/4" at the widest) awhile ago. Since then this brown growth (not algae) has been starting to take over and wanting to expand. Its the fuzzy brown in the photo. Hard to take a photo because they are constantly waving in the flow. Is this what they call mermaids chalice/cup or something? You can also see that it is sending out runners which leads to the second question: good or bad?
Thanks

[marie]

They almost look like hydroids, which doesn't bode well for the blastos

[fkshiu]

Yep, colonial hydroids. Nasty little guys. You could try kalk but it's a bit too close to the blastos. I've tried using epoxy to cover them with varying success. If you want to try and save the blastos carefully frag what's left away with a Dremel tool leaving the hydroids behind. I've even heard of some people using a blow torch on hydroids as a last resort!

[Oceanic]

Originally Posted by BC Mosaic

I got a frag of blasto on a small piece of live rock (13/4" at the widest) awhile ago. Since then this brown growth (not algae) has been starting to take over and wanting to expand. Its the fuzzy brown in the photo. Hard to take a photo because they are constantly waving in the flow. Is this what they call mermaids chalice/cup or something? You can also see that it is sending out runners which leads to the second question: good or bad?
Thanks

Richard,

Get em out! Or you could also try a peppermint shrimp, they sometimes have a taste for these hydroids as well as Aptaisa. Refer to the link below for more information;

http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

[BC Mosaic]

I fragged off two small blastos and got rid of the rock. Phew.
Thanks guys.
Cheers

Good that you "get rid" of "it" that way. I dont know about you, but I did the same to one of my rock that had so much of bad stuff on. but instead of throw it out, I covered the rock with a black tower, deep it in for a a while then keep it cover, deep it back into a small "hospital "container" , now it's in a spare tank (small though) and I am watching it to see those bad guys still survive after the bath. Hehe.. Fun to try something new and ... weird.. LOL
Good luck there.

[VFX]

S. Michael's Reef Fishes 3: Angel Fishes & Butterfly Fishes, says that Long Nose Butterflies (Forcipiger Flavissimus) may eat hydroids.

Anyone witnessed this at all?

Reef Fishes 3 - Angels & Butteflys

.