I think I have an anemone in the tank....

[jimandjess3096]

We have had our tank for about 10 months. We have since then aquired 2 percula clowns, 2 blue yellow tailed damsels (one has died - it jumped out the tank from being bullied by the other damsel), a yellow tang, a green chromis, a yellow coris wrasse, a 4 striped damsel, and since yesterday, a dwarf angel. A couple of days ago I looked in the tank and noticed next to a piece of live rock there were a bunch of tentacles coming out of it. I lifted up the rock and what appeared to be a miniature sized anemone was attached to the side of it. It has a very small "body" (about the size of a small pea, if that), and several pinkish colored "tentacles" coming out of it, about a half inch to an inch long. When I lifted the rock, the tentacles shrunk and turned a darker color. It seems to be an anemone, but I am not sure. I have no idea how it got into the tank. We haven't bought any anemones, it is a fish only tank with some live rock. I will try to get a picture of it.

 

[Fluff]

It would have hitched along on the live rock. Look forward to pics.

 

[jimandjess3096]

Here is a pic

This is the best shot I could get of it. It is right behind the sea shell (The pinkish "tentacles") What do you think it is? The "body" of it is very small. It seems to be mostly just tentacles. I read a little about a worm called a "spaghetti worm" but this creature hasn't burrowed in the gravel in a dark place, and it's tentacles don't seem nearly as stringy and long. What do you think?

 

[w|z]

looks like an aptasia..

 

[oyf709]

looks like an aptasia..

seems one to me

 

[jimandjess3096]

What is an aptasia? Is it good or bad for my tank?? It is kind of hard to see the entire thing, since is is behind the shell, but there isn't really much more to it than the small tentacles. The body is very small. I'm just curious as to why I am just seeing it now, when I have had the same live rock in my tank for almost a year now. I haven't bought any new live rock since about 9 or 10 months ago.

 

[phishead]

Aptasia tend to be a nuisance. this should be read, "spread fast and hard to kill." Many people do not have a problem with having them in there tank. If you are going to go down the reef road, you need to get rid of it. If you want a fish only tank, let em grow. Your non-fish knowledgeable friends will be real impressed at the tank full of anenomes that you have.

Natural predators are peppermint shrimp, copperbanded butterfly. Most people prefer to use a product called joe's juice. You need to inject it using a syringe but it kills them.

On the main page type aptasia in the search box, you will get all the info you want. Also look for a thread titled pests. I just read it yesterday or today so it is not very old.

http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=49045&highlight=pests

Nevermind I found it!

If it is any help, I was extremely excited to find one of these in my tank also. I no it's a real bummer to find out they are pests.

 

[jimandjess3096]

If it has taken 10 months for this anemone to come out, is there a strong possibility that there are several more under the rock? This one I think I could physically remove without tearing any of its tentacles off, since it is attached to a seashell instead of a piece of live rock. It was originally attached to live rock, and we had just done a water change before we noticed it and thought maybe we layed the rock down on it, and lifted the rock up and eventually it detached itself from it and moved about an inch over to that big seashell. I read you have to be careful doing that though, because it's easy to tear off a limb and it will reproduce. This one doesn't look like it's doing anything to anyone in the tank, but I don't want it multiplying all over the place. I have a 65 gal tank, but it is a hex, so there is limited space on the bottom, and I don't want these aptasias multiplying and taking up too much room. As far as the injection, I'm worried that this one is too small for me to inject. Its body is so small, being that it's a hex tank, it is a good ways down to get to it, and sort of in a hard spot. Any ideas?

 

[phishead]

I would take it out.

If you are said about it or decide later that you really wanted it I am sure there are many here who wouyld send you all of theirs for free!