This Thing Looks Creepy! Help ID

The Flying Turkey · Mar 31, 2014

Anyone know what this is between the two rocks??

Close up:

It's living in the live rock. The live rock is sitting on top of dry rock, and this thing just poked out today.

Davesgt · Mar 31, 2014

That my friend is an aiptasia and they are not to good to have as they can spread and sting corals

Davesgt · Mar 31, 2014

I would recommend aiptasia X its a product to help get rid of these.

The Flying Turkey · Mar 31, 2014

Davesgt said:
I would recommend aiptasia X its a product to help get rid of these.

Dang. Can I just pull the sucker out?

MrDJeep123 · Mar 31, 2014

Davesgt said:
That my friend is an aiptasia and they are not to good to have as they can spread and sting corals

+1.

Davesgt · Mar 31, 2014

Well you could try to dig it out but then you would risk it spreading in your tank, when stressed they can literally populate over night.

The Flying Turkey said:
Dang. Can I just pull the sucker out?

FishLipz · Mar 31, 2014

Kill it! Show no remorse, no hesitation, no mercy. If you only have that one you can also just cover the sucker with a blob of glue or epoxy.

760mason · Mar 31, 2014

If you have one you have have many. Aptasia x is great. Peppermint shrimp will also take care of the new ones. I had such a problem with aptasisa. I put 5 pepermint shrimp in the tank and have been aptasia free for 2 years now.

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 31, 2014

The Flying Turkey said:
Dang. Can I just pull the sucker out?

I wouldn't pull it out. As a defense mechanism, aiptasia can release spores to reproduce when they feel threatened. If you go to pull it out, it will produce the spores and in a few weeks you will have a bunch of these suckers.

TheSaint216 · Mar 31, 2014

That looks like a newer setup, Can you pull the whole rock out? If you can chop off that little area it might help it from spreading and remove it from the system.

zoechance · Mar 31, 2014

TheSaint216 said:
That looks like a newer setup, Can you pull the whole rock out? If you can chop off that little area it might help it from spreading and remove it from the system.

I AGREE take that rock out and blast that piece off!! do it now no hesitating...

The Flying Turkey · Apr 1, 2014

TheSaint216 said:
That looks like a newer setup, Can you pull the whole rock out? If you can chop off that little area it might help it from spreading and remove it from the system.

yes it's brand new. I just put the live rock in, so I can take that one rock out. I'll take care of it as soon as I get home today. Thanks!

no1uno1970 · Apr 1, 2014

One or two peppermint shrimp will do. They're awesome and you won't have to break your rock. Peppermints are not very expensive and depending on the size of the piece of rock, chances are it's worth more than the cost of the shrimp.

ReefMadScientist · Apr 1, 2014

Little squirt of Aptasia X and be done with it.

gemini9 · Apr 1, 2014

Wow... the closer the photo the scarier it looks lol

The Flying Turkey · Apr 1, 2014

no1uno1970 said:
One or two peppermint shrimp will do. They're awesome and you won't have to break your rock. Peppermints are not very expensive and depending on the size of the piece of rock, chances are it's worth more than the cost of the shrimp.

Are peppermint shrimp safe for a deep sand bed?

The Flying Turkey · Apr 1, 2014

ReefMadScientist said:
Little squirt of Aptasia X and be done with it.

I picked some up at my LFS today and I just imploded the sucker! I also flipped the rock over and filled a bunch of the holes in the area.

salttanklife · Apr 1, 2014

I've read that a little shot of lemon juice will kill them also

760mason · Apr 1, 2014

I love watching them explode. My tank was so infested with them. I happened overnight and got out of control so fast. I fought them with the aiptasia x for months. I finnaly got 5 peppermint shrimp. The peppermint shrimp will eat the babies and keep your tank aiptasia free. Go buy some peppermint shrimp you will never see one of those again.