what is this... thing?

Liz

Liz

AC Members
Mar 25, 2005
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I just noticed this amidst my liverock in my 50 gallon FOWLR, blowing around in the circulation of the water. When I turn the powerhead off, these tentacle looking things are still and semi-erect in the water. This is the best picture I can get...
tent.jpg


I don't want to have to touch them or move them around to explore further, but I will if it'll help figure out what they are....

I also have small white, hard coils on my glass, what are those?
 
ok, got a better picture, I picked up the rock and held it to the glass.... turns out there are two of them. They seem to retract their "tentacle" things when I move the rock.

tent2.jpg
 
looks like they might possibly be aptaisia, they're a pest anemone and spread rapidly. a copper banded butterfly or perppermint shirmp will take care of them. the little white coils are a type of fanworm. they're harmless and a sign of a healthy tank. HTH
 
It looks like a type of anemone called an Apaista(sp?) anemone. They are a pest and can easily spread through out the tank. As for the small white hard coils on the glass, what you are looking at is a type of worm. Completely harmless just another filter feeder in the tank.

Edit: Oscar you type faster than me! :sad:
 
I have read about these "antipasta" (thats what I call the darn things!). They spread very quickly and very easily. If ANY part of the anemone is left behind then it can/will regerate itself rapidly and can/will take over your tank. Be sure to take care of this one carefully, quickly, and gently. Do a search in the forums for aptaisia. Read about it and take your time. One day you may have two. The next you may have twenty!
 
haha yeah im a pretty fast typer... I WIN!!! anyway... at my old job we had a 300 gallon reef tank that had a pretty bad aptaisia outbreak. another good way to take care of them if you dont want to buy a cbb or peppermint shirmp is to inject them with boiling water with a syringe. thats what i did and it worked out great. good luck.
 
Sorry for bringing up an old topic, but I didn't want to create a whole new one.

I've got these things on my aquarium glass and on some of my live rock, I suspect it's another pest. They're offwhite cystlike, furry-looking things maybe 0.25" long that are attached to my glass, I don't think they move, but there are two small horns that look like pincers on the tip of it. They're really ugly and grosslooking and reproducing rather rapidly, or something.
Here's as good of a picture as I can get.
umsick.jpg



As for the aiptasia, I removed the rock they were on and haven't seen any more of them since. Thanksss.
 
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It's a pineapple sponge. I couldn't tell you the scientific name though. No big deal. Pretty normal for a new tank. They are filter feeders which is a good thing.
 
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