ID these Cheato hitchhikers

[ReefLab]

The water in the bag of Cheato I got has a bunch of stuff. Mostly pods but a few questionable things (hydroids?)

 

[monti mike]

It’s hard to tell but it looks like it could be little aiptasia anemones

 

[ReefLab]

It’s hard to tell but it looks like it could be little aiptasia anemones

Thanks for looking. I thought that too but they have a clear, tube-like body. They also don't retract so im not really sure what it is.

 

[monti mike]

Thanks for looking. I thought that too but they have a clear, tube-like body. They also don't retract so im not really sure what it is.

That’s tough. Are you gonna risk it and throw it in the tank? Good luck I hope it’s anything but aiptasia!

 

[ReefLab]

That’s tough. Are you gonna risk it and throw it in the tank? Good luck I hope it’s anything but aiptasia!

No chance lol.

I put it in a gallon RO water for an hour then added an ounce of bayer and let it sit in that for 10 minutes.
Ill probably do the bayer dip again in a day or two.

Im thinking about dipping in copper at 2-5ppm to try and kill aiptasia (if that is what it is). Not sure if thats a bad idea..

 

[SHNICI]

aiptasia I think, but on the middle 2 look like spiders (second photo).
If you still have them, can you make better photo on them ?

 

[ReefLab]

aiptasia I think, but on the middle 2 look like spiders (second photo).
If you still have them, can you make better photo on them ?

They're definetly not spiders. They have some kind of tube. I got rid of them already but ill try and get a picture if I find more.

Do you think if I dosed the bucket that has chaeto with copper that I will still be able to put it in my tank?

 

[Vette67]

Chaeto will be fine in copper. I had a hospital tank set up, and would throw chaeto in for the tangs. Within about a minute or 2, I would see amphipods floating in the hospital tank. But the chaeto was fine for days in the copper water. Just give it a rinse with clean salt water and you’ll be fine. But everything alive that isn’t chaeto will be dead in the Copper bath. Probably within an hour or 2.

 

[ReefLab]

Chaeto will be fine in copper. I had a hospital tank set up, and would throw chaeto in for the tangs. Within about a minute or 2, I would see amphipods floating in the hospital tank. But the chaeto was fine for days in the copper water. Just give it a rinse with clean salt water and you’ll be fine. But everything alive that isn’t chaeto will be dead in the Copper bath. Probably within an hour or 2.

Thank you!
Did you take the chaeto from your hospital tank with copper and put it back into your sump?
Im assuming it will absorb some amount of copper so ill rinse it and use cuprisorb.

 

[vetteguy53081]

i see hydroids and pods

 

[Vette67]

Thank you!
Did you take the chaeto from your hospital tank with copper and put it back into your sump?
Im assuming it will absorb some amount of copper so ill rinse it and use cuprisorb.

I put it in with the intention of feeding my tangs, so I did not put any back in my tank. But would take live rock with aptasia on it and let it soak for a couple days in the copper bath and drop it back in my tank un-rinsed. As long as you aren’t putting it back into a 4 gallon pico tank, the amount of copper left won’t be harmful. Natural sea water has traces of copper in it.

 

[ReefLab]

i see hydroids and pods

I was thinking it might be hydroids. Do you think the bayer dip will be effective against these or should I use copper?

 

[monti mike]

I was thinking it might be hydroids. Do you think the bayer dip will be effective against these or should I use copper?

My unscientific theory is that bayer wouldn’t kill hydroids/aiptasia. People dip corals all the time in bayer to kill bugs - not the coral. Granted, aiptasia aren’t coral but if anything I’d guess they’re hardier than corals. Cockroaches of the sea

 

[ReefLab]

My unscientific theory is that bayer wouldn’t kill hydroids/aiptasia. People dip corals all the time in bayer to kill bugs - not the coral. Granted, aiptasia aren’t coral but if anything I’d guess they’re hardier than corals. Cockroaches of the sea

I agree. from what ive read, the bayer targets animals with a central nervous system which is why corals and anemones aren't affected.
Not sure exactly what concentration of copper I should use to kill off the hitchhikers

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was thinking it might be hydroids. Do you think the bayer dip will be effective against these or should I use copper?

Neither will knock them down. Manual removal and starvation is what rids of them. They filter feed and grab suspended food. If you cover them with upper half of 2 litre bottle, they will starve

 

[SHNICI]

Neither will knock them down. Manual removal and starvation is what rids of them. They filter feed and grab suspended food. If you cover them with upper half of 2 litre bottle, they will starve

I done the same one, I also test to glue them tubes, I put them in ultra low nutrients w/o any food, I keept them in a stagnant water, still nothing against, after some time they are coming bak. Even after manual removal under macroscope, they start to appear on that particular peace of LR they was, nit 100% sure now what can take them off completely, somewhere I read have slug which eat them, but isn't possible to find that one
Do your best to manually remove them completely, if some don't grow in deep crevices you can be lucky one, even 2mm bit of them will reborn them. probably and nuclear bomb can't destroy them completely, like someone say they are the cockroach on the sea.