Wierd Stringy things

Renegade · #1 03-17-2007, 06:26 AM

Hey guys this is kinda a newbe question but in almost 2 yrs i've never encountered this before. First off i don't have any pictures b/c it would just be blurry so i'm not going to ask to take a look at a picture and try and identify something.

Ok so i have a 20g set up that has about 35pounds of LR in it. Its temporary as i was curing rock temporary has turned into 6months now lol. it has crabs and snails in it. So my question is i have these wierd string thing about the diamator of a hair (white) with little feelers on it. They retract but for the most part are out 24/7, some kind of worm perhaps ?

If so good / bad and if bad how do i get rid of them ?

I know this is incredibly vage but iono how else to discribe it.

Thanks

Kyle

honkey sauce · #2 03-17-2007, 07:06 AM

vermatid snail its ok

Rippin · #3 03-17-2007, 07:27 AM

Does it look like this?
http://melevsreef.com/id/digitate_hydroid.gif

If yes, then a digitate hydroid maybe?

Renegade · #4 03-17-2007, 10:35 PM

yes thats exactly what it is. good bad ??

Kyle

justinl · #5 03-17-2007, 10:52 PM

bad.

digitate hydroids are polyps related to jellyfish and attach themselves to rock. They pack a powerful sting for such little things so don't touch em.

getting rid of them: there are mixed reviews on these guys.
opinion 1: there are common in bursts in a new tank and then recede quickly because they are finicky and difficult to keep alive even if you did want em.
opinion2: monsters. sting everything and sting them well. Some people have had patches of them for years trying to get rid of them. Some even resort to boiling their LR to kill them.

opinion 1 is a nice solutioin isn't it? unfortunately opninion 2 happens as well. My theory is that they are different species, but it's just a guess. I would wait a bit and extract the ones you can. If they still persist then I don't know what you want to do. another removal method or rock boiling?

marie · #6 03-17-2007, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renegade

yes thats exactly what it is. good bad ??

Kyle

If it's a hydroid it's not something you want in your tank, they can sting nearby corals.

I have a bunch that only come out at night because my foxface eats them. They haven't seemed to actually hurt anything yet but my zoanthids don't like them much. If you find away to get rid of them tell me