Digitate hydroids-- AHHHH

Purple Platapus · Apr 30, 2016

Hello everyone, I have been in the reefing hobby for close to two years now, and just last week I noticed some wormy looking things flailing about in my water. I did some research and found out they are digitate hydroids. You can see one here near the zoas.

Some say they should be removed as soon as possoble, while others say they will go away on their own. Some report that they sting and kill corals, while others say that they don't bother corals at all. What's your experience been on them, and if removal is necessary, what is the best way to get rid of them?

saltyphish · Apr 30, 2016

I know they kept my fire and ice colony on the verge of extinction. I superglued over where they came put of the rocks and problem solved unless you have a lot of them. There is a thread on here were someone treated their tank to eradicate them. Don't waste your time trying to pull them out. I never had luck with that. They always came back.

sawdonkey · Apr 30, 2016

Purple Platapus said:
Hello everyone, I have been in the reefing hobby for close to two years now, and just last week I noticed some wormy looking things flailing about in my water. I did some research and found out they are digitate hydroids. You can see one here near the zoas.

Some say they should be removed as soon as possoble, while others say they will go away on their own. Some report that they sting and kill corals, while others say that they don't bother corals at all. What's your experience been on them, and if removal is necessary, what is the best way to get rid of them?

Had them for a while. Went away without doing anything. Never harmed anything.

Purple Platapus · May 1, 2016

sawdonkey said:
Never harmed anything.

Update: one of their "sweepers" came super close to my frogspawn. Now the frogspawn is shriveled up. What should I do?

reef lover · May 1, 2016

I've found these guys to sting everything they touch. I found the best way to eradicate is to find where they're coming out of use a pair of tongs /tweezers to remove as much of the hydroid as possible from the tank. Then to cover what remains and its hole with superglue or epoxy.