Newbie to Reef Tanks

Lmdw121 · Feb 4, 2018

Hi everyone- I am brand new to reef tanks. My 75 gallon tank was started a week ago today! I'm learning a lot so far. I have some live rock in my tank, 2 clown fish for starters and 4 hermit crabs. I wanted to know if anyone knew what this was growing out of my live rock. I can't seem to pinpoint it exactly. Any advice is appreciated!
Thank you

Tautog · Feb 4, 2018

That looks like Apitasia coming out of the live rock
Peppermint shrimp are working for me now
But I also had good luck with injecting lemon juice into them.
Stay on top of this pest very invasive and they will hurt some corals

Lmdw121 · Feb 4, 2018

Thank you !

Tautog said:
That looks like Apitasia coming out of the live rock
Peppermint shrimp are working for me now
But I also had good luck with injecting lemon juice into them.
Stay on top of this pest very invasive and they will hurt some corals

Mikedawg · Feb 4, 2018

Does it look like this? If so, would definitely take rock out to treat it if you can. There are a variety of chemical and "natural predator" methods you'll find if you search this forum, including gluing them shut. I read mixed reviews about using peppermints and rely on Aiptasia X myself. Get ready for a long standing war; if you have one, you probably have others so now is a good time to find a solution which works for you. Here's a good reference for identifying hitchhikers: https://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

KJ · Feb 4, 2018

Welcome to R2R!!!

Lmdw121 · Feb 4, 2018

It doesn't look like that yet- it's so small right now. This is what it currently looks like

Mikedawg said:
Does it look like this? If so, would definitely take rock out to treat it if you can. There are a variety of chemical and "natural predator" methods you'll find if you search this forum, including gluing them shut. I read mixed reviews about using peppermints and rely on Aiptasia X myself. Get ready for a long standing war; if you have one, you probably have others so now is a good time to find a solution which works for you.

Mikedawg said:
Does it look like this? If so, would definitely take rock out to treat it if you can. There are a variety of chemical and "natural predator" methods you'll find if you search this forum, including gluing them shut. I read mixed reviews about using peppermints and rely on Aiptasia X myself. Get ready for a long standing war; if you have one, you probably have others so now is a good time to find a solution which works for you. Here's a good reference for identifying hitchhikers: https://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

jsker · Feb 4, 2018

Welcome to R2R and reefing. I would suggest pulling the rock out and then injecting or use a kalk past to kill the apistaisa. Doing the kill in the tank most of the time will spread the apitaisa, the rinse the rock with tap water and back in.