Say it aint so Fluff......

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Heres the deal. I have been seeing some long skinny white tentacles around my tank stretching far and receeding. I though they were spagetti worms but I don't have any experience with Aptasia so can they extend this far?

Then tonight I turn on my light and I see what I think looks like an Aptasia? It was clear-whitish.

How can this be possible? The LR that I found it on was a piece that was left in F/W for a LONG time because I was a newbie with bad hitchikers and I freaked out. When I put the rock back it was black. I inspected it and there was NO sign of life. Now I am happy to see a bunch of baby feather dusters growing? How does this happen? This is one of the most fascinating things I have ever witnessed.

And please tell me it is not. Best pic I could get because of the akward location. Aptasia make mounds of sand under them? I have seen tentacles stretch 5-6 inches and drag back into the LR but not this specific one.

Thanks
 
its a little hard to tell but i think it is. is it possible to turn the rock to get a better look? sometimes if they are on the under side of a rock they will strech and loose color. i also have had some that were pretty clear. turn the rock and wait. you should get a better shot of him then.

if its just the one, id use some kalk paste and just seal the whole or get a pepperment. he should take care of it without bothering anyone.
 
Aptasia with stretch out for light like any other anemone or coral but it isn't gonna "reach" out with one or two tentacles. I can't really see what you are referring to though so I can't really help with what it is. You say it has a mound of sand under it. Sounds like it could be a rock boring worm, possibly a peanut worm. Or if it's at the bottom of the rock and is moving sand it could be a spagehetti worm, sand mason, eunicidae or any number of sand dwelling polychaete worm.
As for the rock, it is very possible for life to return after a few months of being dormant. I did an extended fw dip on a star polyp rock and it fully recovered in less than a month. Another possibility is that the life you are seeing is life that has since moved onto the rock from the rest of your tank. The same way base rock gets colonized by bacteria and critters. :)
 
That rock was only killed 2 weeks ago!

I found another one right next to it. I do have spagheti worms around because they stick one tentacle outr very long and drag it back over the rocks. They receed when I shine the light.

These two do not stretch from what I have seen and they look just like Aiptasia. I will try to get you a better pic. Either way, I wanted to add some of my first critters next week. MY LFS will not be getting any pepps. for at least two weeks. Is that ok to wait that long if they are Aiptasia, and, what harm do Aiptasia do to your tank besides spreading?
 
Mike469 said:
I have been seeing some long skinny white tentacles around my tank stretching far and receeding. I though they were spagetti worms but I don't have any experience with Aptasia so can they extend this far?

This had me confused then. ^

If it looks like aptasia, 99% of the time it is. Aptasia is not really harmful to the tank itself, just to any corals or small fish you decide to add to the tank. Depending on the nutrients in your tank, the aptasia may not grow in the two weeks it takes to get your peppermint shrimp or, they may grow to large for the peps to eat them. I can't really say. You could wait. Just don't feed real heavy during this time to discourage growth and spreading. If you don't wanna wait, you could nuke them now with kalk or joe's juice. Or you can wait and see if the peps take them out. If the shrimp don't work then you still need to nuke them. Either way the end result is the same, right? It's just a matter of when.

I checked your info button to see what all is in the tank but you haven't filled it out. :) But, since your tank is very new, with no corals (right? cause I'm not sure) you could leave the lights off as much as possible as well to discourage growth.
 
If I leave the light off will it hurt the nice purple coraline I have?

I have no fish or corals yet.

Fluff, the long 1 tentacle thing from the rocks is most likely not Aiptasia right? These two are close to each other and they look just like Aiptasia. Especially the stalk.

How long does the Joes Juice take to kill them? I am going to get it ASAP.

One more to confuse things. While I was staring at them I looked between at a little piece of LR and it appeared to be more, but this one is different. It is attached to what looks like a mini sanddollar shaped disc and it has 3-4 of Aiptasia looking things. Pobably kind of cup coral? I can't get a pic because of the location..

I have heard of Joes Juice. I will try it out and let you know. I will also try and get more pics tonight so you can see it more clearly. Thanks for the help.
 
joes juice works ok but you need to turn off the power heads for about 20 minutes so the aiptasia has time to injest. make sure you completly cover them or they will just grow back. ive used it on the sema aiptasia several times and they keep growing back.
i cant really get mine that well because of where they are , corals all around. they claim that its safe to use aroud corals but freinds and i have lost sps to this stuff.

kill,kill,kill, they are horible and will ruin you life!
 
Mike469 said:
If I leave the light off will it hurt the nice purple coraline I have?

Unfortunately, yes. Some of the coralline may die off.

Mike469 said:
I have no fish or corals yet.

Fluff, the long 1 tentacle thing from the rocks is most likely not Aiptasia right? These two are close to each other and they look just like Aiptasia. Especially the stalk.

No guarantees without a picture but, if it only has one tentacle, probably not aptaisa.

Mike469 said:
How long does the Joes Juice take to kill them? I am going to get it ASAP.

Joe's Juice works as soon as it's ingested but as mentioned, turning off the powerheads is a good idea.

Mike469 said:
One more to confuse things. While I was staring at them I looked between at a little piece of LR and it appeared to be more, but this one is different. It is attached to what looks like a mini sanddollar shaped disc and it has 3-4 of Aiptasia looking things. Pobably kind of cup coral? I can't get a pic because of the location..

Sounds like a cup coral.

Mike469 said:
I have heard of Joes Juice. I will try it out and let you know. I will also try and get more pics tonight so you can see it more clearly. Thanks for the help.

More pics are always helpful. ;)
 
I am almost positive the 2 are Aiptasia. Here is a pic of what I think and hope are spaghetti worms. They are all living in the tubes that feathers use to occupy. Most of the small ones have 2 tentacles coming out of the tunes.

Fluff, many of them DO have more than 1 tentacle. I watched one last night stretch about 4-5 far and thin across and entire rock and then receed into the tube. Pics are tuff. Any significance that what I think is Aiptasia is free living and what I think is Spaghetti is living in tubes?
 
Every time you post, the pictures in my head change. lol
Your post says "here is a pic" but I don't see one. ??

If you have small worms with two tentacles poking out, they are probably vermetid gastropods. Small stationary snails that live in tubes simular to duster worms and they feed much like the spaghetti worms do by using mucus covered appendages.
Here is a link to photos.
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/picture_pages/faq_vermetid.html
Here is a pic of a vermetid.
 
If I were you I would quit worring so much about hitch hickers.....diversity is a good thing and you could be doing far more damage to your rock than good.....

One of my favorite things to do after getting a new peice of rock is to look it over and see whats growing on it.....and THEN remove the goob from the bad.....

FWIW I would handle the aiptasia with a peppermint and let everything else be.....

Nothing else other than mantis shrimp, a couple bad species of anemonies or flat worms is worth removing from the rock IMO.
 
If I were you I would quit worring so much about hitch hickers

Who said I was worried? I was worried about Mantis. Things like Aiptasia I would like to know what they are. I did get a peppermint yesterday.

This is my first saltwater tank. I think it is a great way to learn to get the opinions of all the more experienced people here. My LR is also doing very well. The few that I damaged became live because I bought 10+ lbs. of LR to seed it.
 
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