What are this type of corals that are growing on my live rock?

[Mark The Kidd]

I recently bought some cured live rock from a friend gave me an awesome price and even one live rock came with Xenia but this other two live rocks on the right are growing some corals that I am not familiar with one looks like a green ball and the others look like some small corals coming out. I was planning on just doing a fish only aquarium but now I guess I'll go with a small reef

 

[fort384]

The stuff on the far right is aiptasia. You will want to get rid of it. They sting, are aggressive, and multiply like crazy.

The stuff on the left appears to be xenia.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

Aiptasia I see I'll have to do some research on it. So the green ball is Xenia?? Thanks for replying btw )

 

[fort384]

No, not sure what the green ball is tbh.

Definitely research aiptasia. There are a few methods of removal, but you have a whole bunch of them so it will take some time to get rid of them. Don't try to just pull them off the rock or you will end up with many more. You have to kill them in the tank.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Aren't there inverts that eat it?

 

[Ingy]

Peppermint shrimp do. Mine cleared my tank out

 

[Jeremy S.]

Peppermint shrimp MIGHT eat small ones but some people don't have luck with them.

And the green ball looks like your simple run of the mill sponge. They just filter feed.

My peppermint shrimp cleaned up most of my tank but not larger aiptasia.

 

[fort384]

Never had any peppermints but have heard they are hit or miss on eating it.

I have only see aiptasia in my tank once and I nuked it with boiling lemon juice from a medicine dropper. Worked like a champ. But with as many as the op has that wouldn't work unless it was done over several days/weeks. Otherwise it would Lower the pH with all that lemon juice they would need.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

The Aiptasia Eating Peppermint Shrimp are best known for their natural ability to manage nuisance Aiptasia, or glass anemones.

 

[Jeremy S.]

The Aiptasia Eating Peppermint Shrimp are best known for their natural ability to manage nuisance Aiptasia, or glass anemones.

They're hit or miss. I think they may work for you since yours are small. I had some maybe 2 inches across that my peppermint shrimp wouldn't go near though.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

Never had any peppermints but have heard they are hit or miss on eating it.

I have only see aiptasia in my tank once and I nuked it with boiling lemon juice from a medicine dropper. Worked like a champ. But with as many as the op has that wouldn't work unless it was done over several days/weeks. Otherwise it would Lower the pH with all that lemon juice they would need.

Is it really that bad to keep them? Or do they cause problems? Or will they die since my tank is in its 2 week cycle? All I see on YouTube is people eliminating them off their tanks with peppermint shrimp or butterfly fish. They look somewhat nice in my aquarium I hate to kill them if I don't really have a reason to??

 

[fort384]

They sting fish, coral, and inverts, and can kill them. They multiply like crazy and a large infestation is almost impossible to get rid of without killing other tank inhabitants. They will literally take over a tank.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

They sting fish, coral, and inverts, and can kill them. They multiply like crazy and a large infestation is almost impossible to get rid of without killing other tank inhabitants. They will literally take over a tank.

I see will they die off if my tank is cycling? Would you recommend something that may eliminate them? I'm thinking of the butterfly fish but I don't know if he alone will get rid them?? And by the time my tank is finished cycling they would be much bigger :/

 

[fort384]

What size tank is this?

They likely will survive the cycle.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

What size tank is this?

They likely will survive the cycle.

It's a 37 gallon tank. Darn it so what do you think about the butterfly fish idea?

 

[fort384]

There are no appropriate butterfly fish for a 37 gallon tank that I know of.

Use lemon juice or aiptasia x, and kill them off little by little over several days.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

There are no appropriate butterfly fish for a 37 gallon tank that I know of.

Use lemon juice or aiptasia x, and kill them off little by little over several days.

I'll be upgrading tanks though not now but will in the future im nervous using lemon juice or any other type of chemical to kill them. guess ill try either the peppermint shrimp

 

[Crazycarl]

Are the aiptasia only on one piece of lr? If so I would just remove the rock. i have read when you try to kill them in the tank they can have polyp bailout. they sense their demise and release polyps into the water that will spawn new aiptasia. Just from research though don't know for a fact. Some of the chemical treatments may prevent bailout also. I hear people have luck with aiptasia x.

Only experience I have is one case where I tried a peppermint shrimp and after a week the aiptasia was still there so i took the rock out of the tank and chipped off the piece of rock the aiptasia was on. Since then no more. Peppermints are definitely hit or miss apparently.

 

[fort384]

With no other fish or inverts in the tank I wouldn't worry about using aiptasia x or lemon juice. It will have little effect so long as you don't try to nuke all of em at 1 time.

 

[Mark The Kidd]

Are the aiptasia only on one piece of lr? If so I would just remove the rock. i have read when you try to kill them in the tank they can have polyp bailout. they sense their demise and release polyps into the water that will spawn new aiptasia. Just from research though don't know for a fact. Some of the chemical treatments may prevent bailout also. I hear people have luck with aiptasia x.

Only experience I have is one case where I tried a peppermint shrimp and after a week the aiptasia was still there so i took the rock out of the tank and chipped off the piece of rock the aiptasia was on. Since then no more. Peppermints are definitely hit or miss apparently.

There's only 1 rock that their growing in. What if I took out the rock for a few days will they die and not come back after putting them back in tank?