Need help to ID

[Justfbilly]

I was cleaning the tank in my wife`s office when I noticed this growing out of large group of Zoas that have been in the tank for about 9 months. I took my long tweezers to see if I could move the polyps that are near what ever this is and as soon as the tweezers were near it pulled the tentacles back in and retracted below the top of the Zoas? Any ideas what this is and is it OK to leave it or do I need to remove it. Thanks for the help!

 

[Mike_J]

That's aiptasia. Best to remove ASAP before the invasion.

 

[Aiden Parker]

Aiptasia. It will damage the zoas and spread. Peppermint shrimp, berghia nudibranch or aiptasia x can fix it. If you remove it with tweezers it's likely to make it spread because your can't get every cell and it will break apart and spread quickly

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Aiptaisia also know as "glass anemone". It will potentially sting and harm anything close. They reproduce by spreading spores and they multiply pretty quickly. I would advise using "aiptaisia x" by Red Sea. It has worked for me without fail. Do you by chance have a peppermint shrimp? They are hit n miss, but a natural predator of those. There are other methods to get rid of the pest anemone, however I don't know what would be best approach aside from aiptaisia x with it being in the center of zoas. I'm sure someone here will be able to help with other alternative solutions as well.

 

[Mike_J]

Aiptasia X is great but do be careful when using it, especially within a colony of zoas. It will inevitably land on the zoa polyps and do a bit of damage. Eventually they recover and sometimes you get some interesting morphs but be careful nonetheless. X has to be squirted into the mouth of the aiptasia to be truly effective. Also, look closely within your tank, most likely you have more. Good luck and happy reefing!

 

[Justfbilly]

Thanks for the quick reply's on this. I thought it was an Aiptaisia but I was not too sure. I guess I should consider my self lucky I have been in the hobby since the mid 90`s and I have never once had to deal with these. On way to the LFS to get the Aiptaisia X. I would try the Peppermint shrimp to see if it would help with any further issues wiht Aiptaisia but I have a Arc-eye hawkfish in this tank so that rules out any chance of a Peppermint shrimp survival. Thanks again