need help id-ing

[Sergie]

There are two things I need help identifying. First one is something that was only on my trumpet, it was one small one. But I had it touching a candy cane skeleton and within two days it had split and attached one on the skeleton. It has thick tentacles...looks like a little green anemone and it grows quickly.

Secondly, some sort of polyp I think, on the other side of my trumpet coral. Darker green in color.

 

[ccCapt]

The 1 on the left look like aiptasia. It's a nusiance and can multiple rapidly and sting other corals. The 1's on the right look like palythoas, button polyps. They are keepers.

 

[mr_X]

i think the one on the left is a majano anemone...very similar to aptasia in behavior. of all the things i see, i would be most worried about the kenya tree. it spreads as fast and is as much a nuisance as aptasia, and is equally unattractive.

 

[Sergie]

I know most people call aptasias a nuisance, but will a majano sting other inhabitants? Did you bring up the Kenya cause you saw one in my tank? Cause if I did I didn't know it. Or just as a warning?

 

[mr_X]

yes, that brown branchy thing on the rock by itself is a kenya tree coral.
and yes, majano anemones behave the same as aptasia. the only differences i've noted is appearance, and that the majanos tend to travel a bit more.

 

[Sergie]

Oh man, I was under the impression that it was a colt coral....or same thing different name?

 

[mr_X]

no, 2 different corals. i'm pretty sure it's not a colt. they are similar in appearance though. if that thing starts dropping branches rapidly, you know it's a kenya tree. a colt will not drop branches.

 

[Sergie]

Well I've had it for two months and it's only doubled in size. I haven't noticed anything dropping. It has little ones growing beside it but they haven't grown fast and have been there since I bought it. I'll keep an eye on it.

But if it were a colt, I just read they could be poisonous to stonys. Should I be worried with the trumpet and torch?

 

[mr_X]

no. i wouldn't worry about it. if you plan on keeping a lot of corals with chemical defense, like leathers, i would probably run carbon, but a single coral in a roomy tank shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Sergie]

Sounds good. As far as the majano, should I tweeze them out? Ones getting fairly large. They look neat but if it's going to be a problem I'd rather erradicate them now.

 

[mr_X]

no. you can't kill them that way. like aptasia, they will multiply if you don't nuke them somehow. my favorite method for killing them off is mixing kalkwasser into a thick paste, and squirting a giant glob of the paste right on their mouths with a syringe (less the sharp tip).

 

[Sergie]

I'll give that a try. Thanks