Is this an anenome?

[bcbaker]

I've been trying to determine what this thing is. My BC14 has been running for about 10 weeks, and this grew from inside the piece of Live Rock that it's attached to. It's attached via a long 4" tube, kind of brown or burgundy in color. If anything brushes up against it's 'tentacles' the thing retracts, sometimes right back into the live rock. When fully extended (here I had just turned on the lights), it was not yet fully extended.

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks

Brian

 

[pitmam01]

Looks like aiptasia, which is like a "weed" for your tank. They will spread like crazy. Don't pull it out as it will spread like wildfire. There are different ways of getting rid of them. I use Blu Vet aiptasia control, squirt it on them and they die.

 

[bcbaker]

Aiptasia - I had looked at many examples, and they didn't IMO look the same. I'll now look into how to eliminate, your suggestion is appreciated.

 

[peterdinh]

Get yourself some peppermint shrimp. They are known to eat aptasia.

 

[bcbaker]

Internet research would say that usage of peppermint shrimp is a 50/50 proposition. And they might later on fancy eating other things, like Zoo's or something. It also seems to be a split amongst reefers, whether to use NaOH, or peppermint shrimp. Either way, it sounds somewhat of a risky approach. Eliminating the live rock that's it's on sounds like the easiest approach.

 

[Tieg]

I had a little clear aptasia start and what I did was boil water on the stove and then took a syringe, filled it and then squirted it right on the aptasia at close quarters. It retracted pretty fast and I expended the rest of the hot water in its hole. It came back out and we didn't think it worked but the next morning it was gone. Its been a month and have not seen another aptasia since.

GL.

 

[mmkeeper]

Kalk paste works fast and is easy to do. Make a thick paste and butter the aiptasia.

 

[Maxx]

I had a little clear aptasia start and what I did was boil water on the stove and then took a syringe, filled it and then squirted it right on the aptasia at close quarters. It retracted pretty fast and I expended the rest of the hot water in its hole. It came back out and we didn't think it worked but the next morning it was gone. Its been a month and have not seen another aptasia since.

GL.

I tried this approach and went from one aptasia to about 50.

Nick

 

[Scooterman]

Kalk paste works fast and is easy to do. Make a thick paste and butter the aiptasia.

I found this approach to work best, you spackle the hoe up tight, looks odd white patches all over but eventually you can get them under control, make sure to remove any water flow from that spot.

BTW, I fought them two years, tried just about everything. On the peppermint shrimp, you have to get the right species otherwise you get ones that won't bother them at all.

 

[Tieg]

I tried this approach and went from one aptasia to about 50.

Nick

As stated in my post...it worked for me...although I believe 100% that I was aptasia free as I never saw one for about 2 months and then one popped up a week after a put a couple of frags in the tank. Since treating the one I have not seen another. Although I only have a 30 gal tank. Anyhow...I would apply the same treatment again if I find another.

 

[ecobalance]

Remove rock

The best way is to just pull the rocks out and dig the little things out with a knife with a good tip on it.I must say i really like the seal um up idea as well. If it has a pink center then it's a rock anemone,and in my oppinion a keeper.

 

[returnofsid]

It's definately aiptasia. The best luck I've had is with using a thick Kalk paste, made with Pickling Lime.

 

[seahawkone]

Large syringe,saltwater from your tank,small piece of fresh shrimp. Put water in microwave heat to boil feed shrimp to aptasia.Now it can't retract enough to get away.

 

[rthomas]

Can they be harmful in any way to the tank or are they simply just an annoyance?

 

[soyadrink]

I read that someone put a tiny bit lemon juice into a syringe and squirted it into the aiptasia.

 

[mmkeeper]

They are a nuisence because they multiply quickly and will sting other corals.

 

[rthomas]

Thanks. Thats good to know

 

[Tieg]

Can they be harmful in any way to the tank or are they simply just an annoyance?

What we have in our tank has been there for going on 5 months since we established the tank. It has not spread and has not even gotten any bigger then what it was when the pic was taken. It is for sure some sort of aptasia. One thing I have noticed is since moving the live rock around it is more towards the light and has come a bit more out of the crevass and for sure has a stalk that is typical of the aptasia. For the moment we're leaving it as a habitat in the tank until something we don't like happens.

Sorry...thought this was a different thread....I have a aptasia but its not a glass aptasia...I had a photo of it but have since deleted off my photo album as it was identified. Again have had not problems but as for the glass aptasia...that stuff goes as soon as I can see a tentacle sticking out of the rock. If your interested in a photo of the species I have I'll repost it on this thread if there is any interest.

 

[porksoda]

http://www.joesjuice.com/products.php

 

[surf_buddy]

Large syringe,saltwater from your tank,small piece of fresh shrimp. Put water in microwave heat to boil feed shrimp to aptasia.Now it can't retract enough to get away.

This is quite brilliant! I'm going to use this on my mangas.

On a side note, my pepermint shrimp have devoured all the apistia in my tank. I haven't seen any in over a year.