is this good or bad?

[dorian965]

i just bought my first tank from this guy about a week ago. it been set up for about 3 years except for the sand witch i just added anyway, i have a problem with aiptasia and im try to get that under control.
there are these clear anemones on my rock and i cant tell if they are cool or not. ive looked everywhere and cant find any info on them. ive heard good and bad. they dont have a tube and dont seem to come from inside the rock. heres a pic

 

[Fluff]

When they close up, do they have a ridged stoney base?

 

[dorian965]

yes , they are hard

 

[Fluff]

It looks like a stoney coral. Phyllangia americana perhaps. They are not anything like aptasia and not much of a threat.

 

[dorian965]

the only thing that worried me is that they seem to be multiplying. i got it set up and only saw 2. now there are about 6 or 8 and they ae growing larger. ill try to get a pic of the base. i moved the rock out of the tank to do some cleaning and that seemed to slow them down some.
also, have you ever seen aiptasia grow to a very large size. i had one that was about 3 inches accross.the stem was almost 2 inches wide. it was coming out of this large opening in my rock and i could see it trying to get my damsells.

 

[Fluff]

Yes, I have seen some large aptasia.

I'm not sure about the coral multiplying. I had some that didn't show themselves for months then seem to pop up everywhere. Perhaps the ones you are seeing have been dormant and are now opening up. Pics of them closed would be great.

 

[dorian965]

thanks for your help. ill get those up tommorrow, bed time. later.

 

[dorian965]

heres a pic of them mostly closed. after looking on the web last night , im pretty sure your right.

 

[dorian965]

soooooo, what do you think? dorian

 

[Fluff]

I think it's some type of stoney coral. Astrangia, Phyllangia americana or something simular. Nothing to worry about.

 

[dorian965]

thanks alot. there are 8 or 10 in the tank and the transparency looks pretty cool. i just didnt want it to get out of hand. the aiptasia is a real pain in the rear!

 

[dorian965]

new pics

here is the latest pic of this guy. he had developed a long stem and had gotten really big in only 2 months. sad to say, i think that my peppermints got a hold of him. seems to be goon. there is just a large hole and i havent seen him in a few days.

 

[dorian965]

aiptasia are almost gone!!! i hate those guys.

 

[dorian965]

someone told me that it was aiptasia also. just a different color?

 

[Fluff]

Doesn't look like aiptasia to me.

 

[dorian965]

thats what i thought. there is still a hard stoney base where it was, but they do seem to be coming from flat rock then forming the base. dont know. i thought it was pretty cool. didnt know that the shrimp would eat it. 8O

 

[Fluff]

The things on flat rock may be baby aiptasia. They start out kinda clear in color and I can understand how it could get confusing. The cup corals have a stoney base and unless you feed them, they may have just died out. I'm not sure about the peppermint shrimp eating them, but I suppose anything is possible. :?

 

[dorian965]

all of the small ones are the same as the big one. they are starting to form bases as well. what would you feed them. ive been puting photoplankton in there but im sure thats to small. the largest one started of half that size with no trunk and in 2 mounths got that big. im not sure what happened to him.

 

[dorian965]

im with you , i dont think that they are aiptasia. :|