# Strange Hitch Hiker



## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

i cant get a really decent picture but its like a long white filament that has little hairs that look sticky?? it flows in the current and retracts to behind and inside the branches of my red branching macro algae.. i watched it flap against the macro algae and catch a little reef creature and retract to somewhere i cant see so i dont know what it actually looks like besides its strange fishing line.

any guesses??
ill try and get a picture right now


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)




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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Digitate Hydroids?

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/digitate_hydroid.html


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

thank you aegir that is exactly what it is... i have three of them on that macro algae in total, do you think i should leave them or kill them?? my hermit is currently eating algae off the macro so maybe he will take care of it for me.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

I would remove them... everything i have read says they mostly come out at night so you might just be seeing a small percentage. If possible remove the rock, or chunk of macro and trash it... or methods for aptasia (peppermint shrimp, some butterflies, joes juice or kalk paste, etc) will work also.



> Digitate hydroids spread quickly and sting anything they touch, making them nasty to have in your reef tank.


I will see what i can find on them right now...


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I wonder if a fw dip would work on them? FW dips kill pods so it may possibly kill hydroids too while leaving the rock alone for the most part. For macro you could probably just qickly rise it in fw instead of a dip.


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

Hmm that might work I also thought of fragging the macro sand just getting rid of the rock and infected branches is it possible to do that or will that kill my macro

Can I take the macro out and do an isolated bleach drop onto the hydrods and then rinse in fw


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