Feather Duster

[BettWalker]

Hi, Turned over a LR yesterday and something popped out of a crevice on the underside that I think is a Feather Duster. Attaching pic. Am I right? How do I take care of it?

 

[fishfreek]

Looks kind of like a polyp from that photo.

If something disturbs it does it shoot back into the rock or a tube structure? Or does it just colasp the "head" upon itself?

Featherdusters live in a tube and can disapear into that tube if disturbed.

 

[BettWalker]

Has not done either so far. Will let you know. Is there any special diet it likes or do I need to know what it is in order to feed. Should I simply leave alone and feed my fish the usual?
Thanks.

 

[fishfreek]

Feather dusters are filter feeders. You dont have to supply them any food if you dont want but if you have a powerful skimmer and external filtration then I suggest you add some filter feeder food into the tank and shut the skimmer and filters down for a few hours to allow the feather duster to feed.

Maybe if you could get some clear pics. dont be so worried about getting way zoomed in. A good clear pic from a distance will be just as good. maybe one under normal lights. that pic seems kind of blue.

 

[Bang Guy]

Looks like an Aiptasia to me. But it's difficult to tell without knowing its habbits. Give it a piece of meaty food and see if it grabs it and quickly withdrawls, ignores it, or slowly collapses around the food.

Guy

 

[fishfreek]

Does it look at all like this?

 

[BettWalker]

When I try feeding a piece of meaty food, does it have to be seafood or will something else like chicken do. Checking out my fridge

 

[Bang Guy]

For a test go ahead with the bologna or whatever. Pay close attention to the animals behavior and report back to us. We should be able to give you a general class of animal then.

 

[BettWalker]

I fed it a chunk of brine shrimp and it collapsed in upon itself.
Does that tell us something and if so what? Thanks. Attached is another picture, but I still can't get the color right. It is not as dark as it appears in the pic -- more med tan.

 

[fishfreek]

http://images.google.com/images?q=Aiptasia+&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

Do any of these images look like what you have? I have always thought Aiptasia was more of a brownish clearish color and had longer tenticles with a smaller center disk than what you have pictured but then again I could be very wrong.

 

[reefrunner69]

looks like an aiptasia to me..... I tweaked the pic a little is this closer to the color?

 

[BettWalker]

Kevin, closer, but not quite right either. It's lighter tan and the stem has a pink cast to it. I am about convinced it is Aiptasia. Should I simply remove the rock before it spreads any further or does it spread from small pieces that might already have broken off? Should I leave the rock in and get the Peppermint Shrimp. I really don't want to try doing any lethal injection. or medication. If it hasn't spread, it isn't worth it to me. I'll simply remove the rock.

 

[Bang Guy]

I fed it a chunk of brine shrimp and it collapsed in upon itself.

100% sure it's Aiptasia then. I would remove the rock and scrub off the spot with a stiff brush. Then rinse the rock in some tank water. You can then discard the tank water and replace the rock.

It's possible there are more that are too small to see. You might want to try Peppermint shrimp if you see more starting to grow.

 

[Bang Guy]

http://images.google.com/images?q=Aiptasia+&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

Do any of these images look like what you have? I have always thought Aiptasia was more of a brownish clearish color and had longer tenticles with a smaller center disk than what you have pictured but then again I could be very wrong.

There are a lot of different species of Aiptasia. I've seen Purple, pink, red, brown, yellow and white... and... this baby I call "Monstro":

 

[BettWalker]

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[chrisareston]

Are they bad for the aquarium?

 

[freshmaker]

It looks to me like an anemone. Based on looks and behavior. Check out this link for more info on Aiptasia.
http://www.aquarium.net/faqs/aiptasia.shtml

 

[reefrunner69]

Are they bad for the aquarium?

They are considered pests in a reef aquarium. They have a tendency to breed like rabbits (or worse) and your aquarium can be over run with them. They also have a fairly potent sting and will encroach on and harm your other inverts. It is generally considered a good idea to remove them at first sight. Removal can be problematic, due to numbers as well as they fact that they dn't die easy, if you just try to rip it off, you may end up with several, if any is left on the rock it will regrow.

 

[Hara]

We had very good luck with the scalding water method....They never came back. (have to admit that I felt rather bad about doing it tho)

 

[michealprater]

aiptasia is an anenome. i have a 100% success rate with pulling the rock from the tank and drilling a hole in the rock where the aiptasia is. It is best to do it know before it reproduces. You especially dont want these if you got corals.