Identification of unwanted algae?/hydroid?

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niesz

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Mar 23, 2003
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I'm new to this forum/thread/message group thing, so bear with me if I'm not doing something right.

I've been in the reef game for quite some time and have seen many strange and wonderful things in my tank, but this one has got me stumped.

I'm trying to identify a nuisance algae in my tank, and I'm guessing it is an algae. One LFS thought it might be a hydroid from just my verbal description, but I tend to disagree. It is rust, brown colored. It grows along a thin filiamentous stem, and has a small tuft or polyp at its end, maybe 1/8 inch in diameter. The stem spider-webs its way along the rocks and you end up with small colonies of rust colored tufts all over your tank. I have to admit, they are nice to look at in small quantities, but when they attach to every rock you have, they get to be a nuisance.

Does anyone know what these are, and more importantly, how to control them?

My tank has 3 tangs-- Blue, Yellow, and Purple, a Flame angel, a Flame-back angel, Bullseye dragonette goby, Spirengiri Pseudochromis, Flame hawk, an engineer goby, Pair of Oscellaris Clowns --- and none of these are interested in eating the polyps.

There is also red-legged, blue-legged and black and white-legged hermits, astrea snails, a mint green biscuit star (species unknown), a cleaner shrimp, emerald crabs ---none of these seem to touch them either.

The tank is a full-blown reef with soft, hard and SPS corals, so chemical treatment is limited.

The polyps are not easily removed from the rock. The best way I've found so far is to manually siphon them off with a hose--but they come back. They also seem to 'sting' my green star polyp colonies causing the polyps to stay retracted when they touch.

Any ideas for their removal??
 
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OrionGirl

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If I had to guess, I'd say it sounded like aiptasia, except that they stay threaded together. What makes you think they are algae? What have you tried?

If they are an algae, then doing the lights out routine for a few days should showsome results, but you'll have to be careful not to injure your coral--they should be tougher than an algae, but more than 3 days would be too much.

Do you have any pics you can post? I'm usually poor at identifying critters from descriptions only, but pics might help. Another resource: http://reefs.org/hhfaq/ They are a really good place to check, and have all the common pests.
 

niesz

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My idea of aiptasia is more of a free standing anemone. This is a interlaced web with very small polyps on the ends. When molested, the polyps retract leaving a small 'bud'.

I have previously visited the website you mentioned and have not found any matches. The closest visual match is the hydroid colony, but I have had these before and it is not the same thing.

These are much more invasive and spreading rather than a localize colony.

Lighting seems to have no effect on them at all.

If a roaming crab or fish brushes against them, they collapse for a couple of hours then re-emerge from their bud.
 
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niesz

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Please find attached a picture of the polyps in question.

polyps.jpg
 

OrionGirl

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Yikes--in small batches, that looks cool, but if it's taking over, that's bad. I don't think it's an algae. Algae structures won't react like you've described, which leaves something in the polyp/hydroid category. Short of finding a shrimp, crab or nudribranch to eat it, I'm not sure what your options are.

I'd get in touch with the folks at GARFs ( http://www.garf.org/140.gallon.html ) and see if they can help. Someone else might be able to help around here--give the guys a few days to respond. Sorry I'm not more help!
 

Boogiechillin

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As usual, late for the party in jumping in on this thread...
Niesz, what do these organisms do if you attempt to feed them? Do they catch/envelope food like a typical polyp, or reflexively jerk back when touched without grasping the food?
 

niesz

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They retract when you try to feed them. I believe they filter feed for their nutritional requirements because I have never seen them 'capture' anything. Their head is more like 40 or 50 tiny radial hairs coming from a central point as opposed to what I consider a polyp.

I sent these pictures to garf.org to see if they could identify. They believe that they are hydroids and told me to superglue over them, if you can believe that! I'm still not convinced.

Another LFS store this week told me they are 'pom-pom polyps'. (Not to be confused with xenia.) They even have some in their reef display. They told me they have been in there well over a year, but evidently have not had the problems with invasion that I have had.

I guess I'll continue looking for a fish or possibly a nudibranch that eats them.
 
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