Brown hairs on Zoa Coral....

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

Hello!

I'm very new to the saltwater hobby and was curious what the brown hair or root looking things are on my zoa coral? Thanks

saltyphish · Feb 17, 2015

looks like a big colony of aiptasia to me. If that's the case very bad need to eliminate them before they spread further. Wait for someone else to confirm though, but that is what I see.

rlman41299 · Feb 17, 2015

I would say they do look like aiptasia

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

That rock that the coral are on can be pulled......should I go that route and call it a loss? Thoughts. I did stick my hand in and touch it and it retracted...so it is probably aiptasia

Chris Adams · Feb 17, 2015

I would pull it.

kschweer · Feb 17, 2015

Welcome to R2R! I would say aptasia as well. If you can try to cut the rock where they are off. Do this out of the tank and make sure to rinse very well before adding it back to the tank.

Eckolancer · Feb 17, 2015

Looks like a pink star polyps. Not that bad but can take over growing space for Zoas and other corals

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

Heres another pic....hopefully this is better

kschweer · Feb 17, 2015

From that picture I don't think it's aptasia. It almost looks like Xenia to me. If you scroll down to the bottom where the pictures are see if it looks similar.

http://reefcorner.com/reef-database-index/soft-coral-index/xenia-elongata/

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

Heres yet another pic....from the looks of it, it looks like each one has a middle and 8 arms around the middle. Not sure about Xenia....

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

I'm now thinking that this is Xenia. Its doesn't seem like aiptasia grow as precise like this each with 8 arms around the head

Eckolancer · Feb 17, 2015

Xenia will take over space for Zoas and may even smother them.

frankiegrez · Feb 17, 2015

Yeah...I've been reading that! I moved that small rock to the sand by itself for the time being.....

rlman41299 · Feb 18, 2015

Now based on the close up pics, it is not aiptasia. Could be some type of clove polyps.

saltyphish · Feb 18, 2015

Just a note for you most xenia will drop pieces of itself to float around and spread in the tank. They can over run a tank. I personally like xenias but will not add any for that reason alone.