What IS this thing?

[Eienna]

I suddenly have a lot of these swimming around in my tank....I'm worried it might be another pest. What is it?! (And yes, I know my water's green - I'm in the process of fixing it)

 

[808jaymakoa]

Just curious but why is the water green.

 

[glb]

That is some seriously green water. What happened?


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12g Nanoreef. Zooanthids, Ricordia, Star Polyps, Acans and two clownfish. CF Lighting, 75% actinic blue, 25% 10,000k white.

 

[Eienna]

I made some mistakes which caused the phytoplankton population (i'd been dosing live phyto) to absolutely explode.

I'm working on getting the nutrients down (pretty much good on that now) and have ordered a UV sterilizer.

 

[Chompers]

You have two very interesting situations going. First, I can't grow phyto no matter how hard I try (fresh or salt). You might want to consider setting up a second tank to keep the culture going. Second, that thing is very interesting looking. They had them in an episode of Futurama, but that doesn't help any. They almost look like jelly fish larvae, but you would have had to have added natural sea water to your tank. If they are moving on their own, then they are a larva of some sort.

How big are they?

 

[rajkovich207]

Free floating form of the hydriod, bad to sensitive fish, feeding off the green water. Treatment is cheap but not on option for a reef tank. The medicine stays in the tank for years and will kill most inverts.

 

[Chompers]

I made some mistakes which caused the phytoplankton population (i'd been dosing live phyto) to absolutely explode.

I'm working on getting the nutrients down (pretty much good on that now) and have ordered a UV sterilizer.

Lol, we posted at the same time so you answered my "question" before I asked it (live phyto).

A way around the live phyto is to use powdered spirulina. you mix about 1/8 teaspoon in 8oz of RODI water and let it sit for about an hour. Then you can use that as a phyto substitute.

 

[Italeri]

Looks like a hydroid to me. Quite common in reef tanks. They are nothing to worry about in a reef. But they are very bad in dwarf seahorse tanks because hydroids will sting the crap out of them and kill them. As for the green water, I had it in one of my tanks about 3 years ago. My advice is to go straight to the UV sterilizer. I tried several different methods, but none of them worked To get rid of the green water


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[Eienna]

Thank goodness. I they won't hurt my mandarin dragonet, will they?
Do they eat copepods?

 

[Eienna]

Or hurt my coral, for that matter?

 

[Italeri]

Like I said, almost everyone has them in their reef tanks. They are a very common hitchhiker. The thing is that most people don't even know they have them because they are so small. They won't harm anything except very sensitive fish.


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[Eienna]

I'm so relieved. I was panicking for a minute there, especially since I just removed an aiptasia a couple days ago and thought maybe they were its spawn.

 

[Browncoat]

Don't worry about them. I have them in my tank. I freaked out at first a.d read horror stories. But they have done nothing to my tanks Livestock. I have a mixed reef/fish tank. Best bet is to ignore them and sometimes they will starve themselves out...

 

[Eienna]

There won't be any starving until I get my sterilizer, lol, but that should be soon. Thanks!