What is this creature in my tank?

[cjosephson66]

Can anyone tell me what this worm like anemone is in my tank. It just showed up one day. I just won the battle with red slime and there's only little traces of it left. Should I get rid of this or keep it in the tank?

Thanks everyone I really appreciate it.

 

[jnelson]

Looks to be aiptasia - a pest anemone.

There are various methods of removal. If you only see one or two and they are on easily removable rocks, I'd suggest just removing the entire rock and burning it off with a lighter.

 

[Belwell]

Aiptasia!!! Kill it before it spreads! use aiptasia X

 

[masterswimmer]

Looks like a majano to me.

Definitely a pest that needs to be removed. They will spread all over the tank and sting your coral.

Russ

 

[dubs]

It's majano and def don't want that in ur tank give a little time u will have few and before u know it there every were

 

[cjosephson66]

Looks to be aiptasia - a pest anemone.

There are various methods of removal. If you only see one or two and they are on easily removable rocks, I'd suggest just removing the entire rock and burning it off with a lighter.

Thanks for the advise. I washed the live rock in tap water then threw it in the garbage. It was such a small piece of rock that I threw it out.

 

[cjosephson66]

Looks to be aiptasia - a pest anemone.

There are various methods of removal. If you only see one or two and they are on easily removable rocks, I'd suggest just removing the entire rock and burning it off with a lighter.

I had another question. I have live rock but no coral because I have a chocolate chip star and I'm a beginner so I don't want to mess with coral yet. Is it possible to take out my live rock, scrub it in salt water then replace it back in the tank? I used to do it in the beginning, but now I have copepods living in the rock holes and I don't want to kill them. Is there a safe way to do this?

 

[cjosephson66]

Aiptasia!!! Kill it before it spreads! use aiptasia X

Thanks. I killed the SOB.

 

[cjosephson66]

Looks like a majano to me.

Definitely a pest that needs to be removed. They will spread all over the tank and sting your coral.

Russ

It's dead. Thanks.

 

[KathyC]

Why do you want to scrub the rock?

 

[cjosephson66]

Why do you want to scrub the rock?

To get some of the diatom off of it. I usually suck with the siphon, but some of it seems to be embedded and I wanted to clean it in fresh RO salt water.

 

[jrobbins]

probably would cause more problems than it would solve. if you are getting lots of diatom blooms it might have to do with silicates in your water. could also just be a new tank and diatoms are part of a tank getting established. whatever is causing it, if you cant address the problem you will just have to scrub the rocks again.

if you keep your parameters in check the diatoms will go away on their own soon enough.

 

[cjosephson66]

probably would cause more problems than it would solve. if you are getting lots of diatom blooms it might have to do with silicates in your water. could also just be a new tank and diatoms are part of a tank getting established. whatever is causing it, if you cant address the problem you will just have to scrub the rocks again.

if you keep your parameters in check the diatoms will go away on their own soon enough.

That's the weird thing. I use RO water to make the salt water. All of my parameters are perfect. Trates and trites are always 0, salinity is 1025, ph is 8.4 and 0 phosphorus. I keep the lights on for 5 hours a day and only feed them once a day. I hand feed the chocolate chip star once a week with a fresh mussel or dethawed shrimp and remove any leftover detrious. Water changes 30% per month. The diatom isn't a lot, but just is such a bother. I've only had the tank since February, so I'm just guessing it's part of the issues with a new tank. The diatoms that I'm aggravated at are stuck to the live rock and I think that's what causes the spread. I thought if I put the live rock into a tub with clean salt water and just gently remove it by hand, I could stop the diatom bloom from happening again. I was thinking that whatever copepods are alive I'll scoop up and put back in the tank. Do you think that's ok or too dangerous?

BTW, thank you for your help, I really appreciate all the help I get from everyone.

 

[richardhmc]

You should probably check your other rocks to see if any others are around

 

[cjosephson66]

You should probably check your other rocks to see if any others are around

I checked thoroughly and there was only that 1. I killed that SOB so hopefully there aren't any hiding where I can't see.

Thanks for your help.

 

[motortrendz]

what your saying doesnt sound right abt diatoms.... sound like your talking abt some sort of algae

 

[KathyC]

That's the weird thing. I use RO water to make the salt water. All of my parameters are perfect. Trates and trites are always 0, salinity is 1025, ph is 8.4 and 0 phosphorus. I keep the lights on for 5 hours a day and only feed them once a day. I hand feed the chocolate chip star once a week with a fresh mussel or dethawed shrimp and remove any leftover detrious. Water changes 30% per month. The diatom isn't a lot, but just is such a bother. I've only had the tank since February, so I'm just guessing it's part of the issues with a new tank. The diatoms that I'm aggravated at are stuck to the live rock and I think that's what causes the spread. I thought if I put the live rock into a tub with clean salt water and just gently remove it by hand, I could stop the diatom bloom from happening again. I was thinking that whatever copepods are alive I'll scoop up and put back in the tank. Do you think that's ok or too dangerous?

BTW, thank you for your help, I really appreciate all the help I get from everyone.

You might want to do 15% water change twice a month and try and blow the diatoms off the rocks with a turkey baster instead of scrubbing the rocks.
They are a natural part of the cycle and it's better to let that step finish it's cycle without forcing it. They will go away

 

[cjosephson66]

You might want to do 15% water change twice a month and try and blow the diatoms off the rocks with a turkey baster instead of scrubbing the rocks.
They are a natural part of the cycle and it's better to let that step finish it's cycle without forcing it. They will go away

Will do, Thanks. I'm not too worried about it since there is a very small amount in some of the cracks. Thanks for the advice.

 

[cjosephson66]

what your saying doesnt sound right abt diatoms.... sound like your talking abt some sort of algae

I've had it before and it went away. When I first got it I showed it to my LFS and they said it was definitely diatom. I'm not worried about it since it's such a small amount, it's just annoying that its stuck in some of the cracks in the rock. I'm going to try the turkey baster so I don't have to scrub the rock.

Thank you for your help.