Is this bad for my tank?

[russo36]

Hi guys I'm new to the saltwater world... Been doing fresh water for over 15 years and finally decided to
Switch to saltwater. Nways I found a few things that came w my LR that I need to know if I can keep
or not??? I'm starting w a fish only set-up w live rock and eventually will be adding some corals.
Here are some pics, I also have a teddy bear crab in there... Should I get it out? Considering is going to
Be a fish only set up for the 1st few months or so? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks

 

[DSP]

The first pic is a coral called palythoas which is good,the second is a apatasia anemone which are a pest anemone,there a few products online that kill them

 

[GHill762]

^yep

pic 1 is good.. just some palys.. though they look a little bleached..

pic 2 is bad.. find a way to murder that thing.. but don't pull it out or cut it or anything like that, it'll need to be injected with something like lemon juice, boiling water, or aiptasia-x.. my normal recommndation for aiptasia is to superglue it into a tomb, but this one is a little big for that method.

 

[russo36]

Thanks for the quick reply and for your help identifying these. As for the apatasia I had a feeling it was this as I've been doing a
A lot of researching. Now I'm trying to stay away from using chemicals if possible. my tank is still in the cycling period... I have read of a few
Diff species that eat apatasia... Do u recommend or know of any that have been successful and that won't harm my fish or corals when
Start adding them to my tank?

 

[GHill762]

problems with that are that they'll keep coming back, possibly even spread and also that looks a little big for anything to eat it (maybe some species of fish, idk).. you won't harm the tank if you inject the aiptasia with boiling water with a syringe.. or lemon juice.. or even aiptasia x for that matter.. I fear if you wait you'll be battling a much larger infestation, that's a pretty large aiptasia..

 

[russo36]

@ GHILL 762.... Thanks for the reply.

Yeah they are a lil bleached but my tank has only been up for 2 weeks... Is a 120g and I still need to get good lighting... I'm currently using my t5s from
My freshwater set-up.... I just find it crazy that my palys are starting to spread... I guess they don't really need good light.
Also my pest apatasia is starting to spread... I can't believe it is only been 2 weeks! I wanted to get a peppermint shrimp to see if he
Does anything to it ... Ill starve him since I don't have any fish.. But I'm afraid my tank ain't cycled enough for him to make it and also won't my teddy bear
Crab eat it? She is still very small about the size of a dime

 

[GHill762]

palys are pretty resiliant.. interesting that they are spreading already though..

aiptasia can survive in the worst conditions possible, so those spreading doesn't even surprise me. you can try a pepermint shrimp, but they get mixed reviews for aiptasia control and will only eat smaller ones anyway. they also shouldn't be added until the cycle is over, ammonia is really hard on inverts, though all of my snail and crab hitchhikers survived my initial cycle.. I don't really know anything about the teddy bear crab, sorry..

one way or another, you need to figure out what strategy you're going to use, and get on it pretty quick. aiptasia can completely take over a tank in a short time if left unabated.

 

[cdness]

Kill off that aptasia with a mix of Mrs Wages Pickeling Lime and RODI water. It is basically Kalk Paste which is used to supplement calcium and alkalinity in reef tanks anyway so no harm can be done when used in small amounts. Just don't use it to coat the whole rock. A thick layer over the aptasia nem is more than enough.

 

[Vpham]

I would remove those rocks that have aptaisias and let em sit outside dry of for a few days then rinse off with garden hose . That will kill em completely with out getting infestation through out a tank. ...just an idea....

 

[russo36]

Thank u all for the replies and for the help... I'm researching and trying to see some videos on how to kill
The apatasia... I'm thinking about taking the rocks out and treating them on a separate container.... I don't want to kill the live rock... I just want to
Kill the pest. There is only 2 rocks as of now that I see it growing on... But they are pretty **** big... Lol

 

[russo36]

Got rid of the aiptasia... Thank you cdness for the recipe and to all for the help.
I pick it up at Walmart!!! It worked great it turned into charcoal... Lol then picked it up w the
Turkey baster.... Lets hope I don't see any more of those.

I also have this little brown plant coming out of the same rock it looks like a branch... What can this be?? I
Haven't been able to find anything on it... I'm going to see if I can take a pic to post but is kind of in the rock.