Aiptasia and something else?

[foxt]

I was cleaning out the sump and came across some frag plugs that I had thrown in there many months ago. I haven't been on top of sump maintenance, and I was surprised to find a couple of problems that I now need to take care of.

First, I seem to have an aiptasia infestation. Not really sure where this came from, and why I don't have them all over the sump or the DT. Is it possible that this isn't aiptasia, but something else?

Second, there is this sponge-line stuff on some of the frags. What is this, and what do I need to do about it?

 

[KJ]

1pic aiptasia
2pic sponge harmless filter feeder

 

[DSC reef]

Yup ^^^^

 

[ReeferBean]

The white type is a bit invasive but normally likes lower light. Is there a coral on that plug? You can remove the coral and discard the sponge and the old plug.

 

[foxt]

Thanks guys. No coral on the plugs, when I lose a frag I just throw the plugs in the sump rather than throw them out (I have a lot of rubble in my sump). Maybe that's where the aiptasia came from, although I have been pretty careful about what I add to the system. I have been rummaging through the rest of the sump, and have found quite a few of the buggers hiding out (I really should check the sump more often). I have never seen aiptasia in the DT, although I do have a copperband butterfly so perhaps it has been keeping the aiptasia in check.

I will manually remove as much of the aiptasia as I am able. It should be pretty easy, since it's a sump and most of them are on stuff I can just pull completely out and clean. There are a few stuck to the bottom. From what I can find via search, most people suggest injecting the larger specimens with Aiptaisa-X or something else toxic like lemon juice, or pasting them over with kalk paste. Since I can easily get to everything I can see, why not just try carefully peeling them off the glass?

 

[foxt]

After clearing the Aiptasia that I could see, the sump was clear of it for a while, but now I can see them popping up again. Just added berghia, will give that a try. If they don’t do the job, I may just add a cbb to the 150 gal sump. The DT has no sign of Aiptasia, I suspect it is being controlled by the cbb that is in there.