Was it the hydroids?

[partypalooza5]

I have an infestation of digitate hydroids. I'm positive that's what they are. There's over 100 of them in the tank all swaying around and I fear that they are stinging the fish. My yellow tang seems to be dieing right now because of being stung by one of them. There isn't a ton of info about them, seeing as they are apparently "hard to keep, even if you wanted to"

Aside from taking all the rocks out and scrubbing them, is there any other treatment I can do? I can sacrifice the coraline algae, its more of a pain than a blessing anyway. I just don't want the removal of the rocks to trigger some sort of biological crash.

 

[TylerHaworth]

What is the fish doing? Do you have pictures?

 

[partypalooza5]

The tank is off for the night so I can probably get pics tomorrow. It doesn't seem like it's "stung" but it isn't acting right at all. It's sort of sitting on the bottom gasping. The water quality isn't great but it's not dangerous in any way. The other fish seem alright but I lost a chromis recently. The corals barely open up because the hydroids keep stinging them/hitting them.

It's not ick or some other disease as far as I can tell. It looks like the fish is in shock.

 

[Blue Space]

I have an infestation of digitate hydroids. I'm positive that's what they are. There's over 100 of them in the tank all swaying around and I fear that they are stinging the fish. My yellow tang seems to be dieing right now because of being stung by one of them. There isn't a ton of info about them, seeing as they are apparently "hard to keep, even if you wanted to"

Aside from taking all the rocks out and scrubbing them, is there any other treatment I can do? I can sacrifice the coraline algae, its more of a pain than a blessing anyway. I just don't want the removal of the rocks to trigger some sort of biological crash.

If you're positive the hydrzoa are harming your fish you should evac them to a hospital tank. As far as saving the corals go, you'll need to manually extract the hydroids and avoid fragmentation as you'll only spread them. I've read about people who have used small diameter clear tubing as a syphon while tweezing or scrubbing to avoid spreading them. Also, syphon out any free swimming "jellies" as this is their reproductive phase. Good luck killing those pests, please post pics and let us know your results.

 

[partypalooza5]

Well, as much as it's not a great idea, I'm probably going to take all of the rocks out and scrub them with RO water then let them dry out for a week or so. It's nearly impossible to get rid of them so I might as well nuke everything and start over. I just can't believe these things reached plague proportions!

 

[leebca]

We would need a lot more information to help narrow down the likely problem with the fish. However, with the other problem going on, it may be a moot point since you've indicated you might start over.