Not sure what this is on the LR

[Biggen]

Hey guys. The other day I noticed this creature growing on the live rock. Because of its size, it is extremely difficult to get a good picture. There seems to be two of them growing right next to one another. They are about the size of a pencil head eraser. They appear to have a stalk and definitely "stand up" at night. They are round with tentacles on the outer edges. They are also semi-transparent with a green tint to them.

Just guessing, they look to me like Zoanthids. But how the heck did they end up over in this area of the tank? My larger Zoanthid population is about 10 inches away from this area.

 

[ReefLady]

They look like Aiptasia anemones from here - but not 100% sure on that.

 

[Biggen]

They look like Aiptasia anemones from here - but not 100% sure on that.

Do Aiptasia have a round disk? Didn't think they did, but I am not sure either.

I will try to take a better pic later. It is jus so small, that my camera doesn't have the ability to take such a small shot.

 

[reefrunner69]

My vote would also be for some species of Aiptasia.

 

[Biggen]

Well that sucks...

I guess I had better do some reasearch on how to get rid of them...

Grr...

 

[e-cat]

pepermint shrimp will eat them

 

[Hara]

actually, peppermint shrimp eating them is iffy...all depends on the individual shrimp. I have pepps in 3 tanks, the aiptasia population in them has not decreased.

I haved boiled and kalkwassered them but have not made an impact. I recently purchased a product I heard about on RC. It is called Joes Juice. It has not arrived yet, but I have a "test tank" ready to try this miracle cure out.

 

[hoveboy]

actually, peppermint shrimp eating them is iffy...all depends on the individual shrimp. I have pepps in 3 tanks, the aiptasia population in them has not decreased.

I haved boiled and kalkwassered them but have not made an impact. I recently purchased a product I heard about on RC. It is called Joes Juice. It has not arrived yet, but I have a "test tank" ready to try this miracle cure out.

If you have room for one, try a falcula butterfly. I had a BIG problem with aptasia (over fifty of them) and in two days the fish had eaten the lot!! Not had a single one since....

 

[reefrunner69]

The facula butterfly will not discriminate between eating aips and other sessile inverts. Hara has a full blown reeftank.

 

[hoveboy]

OOPS, sorry!!!!

 

[Biggen]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I think I am going to try the lemon juice injection method first. If that doesn't work I will go with the Kalk method. Only problem with any kind of injection right now is that they are so darn small. Might have to let them grow a bit.

I will definitely look into "Joes Juice".

 

[echo7]

i wouldn't go with the pepperment shrimps, depends on personality, but they may eat soft corals especially zoanthids. i did see some success with a reef safe chemical called "Aipista Stop" It sort of burned the aipistas and if you get them in the mouth b4 they closed it would kill them.

 

[notmuffy]

http://www.seaslugforum.net/bergverraq.htm

These sea slugs also eat Aiptasia. Most sea slugs are pretty selective in what they eat, so it is a possibility they don't eat some of your more beneficial corals and stuff. I would do a little research on that one, though

 

[captivereefs]

If there is only 2 of them use some epoxy stick to seal them in there holes. Do not try and physically remove them because any iece that gets loose can turn into a new one!

 

[jks1]

you can also make a paste out of Kalk and RO water and smear it in the aptasia- will kill it in a day or so. HTH

 

[Bearfan]

What is the big disadvantage to aips? I keep reading about how to get rid of them, but not why to get rid of them.

 

[snapcrackler]

They sting friendly corals

Plus they reproduce really fast and grow even faster, and when they spread they sting whatever good corals they are growing up next to.

I have a big white aiptasia in my 10g mantis shrimp tank that I left in there to see how fast it would grow, when I feed the mantis frozen marine quisine I swish the food around in the tank so the juice flows around for the aiptasia to eat.

In about 1 1/2 weeks it has quadrupled in size. It's about 2" now. I will post pics when it gets huge. I am shooting for a half a foot if that is possible. LOL

 

[notmuffy]

I have a really big one too. But so far just one. We are hoping for celebasy.
LOL.

 

[reefrunner69]

This is what's wrong with aips

This is a pic that was attatched by one of our members (Bulldog12) to an ID post, this started as one or two aips.

 

[cj10488]

WOW now thats alot.. I have never seen so many in a tank.. in a FOWLR it would add some benifit I would think but man that is alot of aips.. lol


James