brownish looking baby anemone growing out of LR..good or bad

the LPS said that it is bad and i should get rid of it. But he had one that looked just like it for sale??? although he did not see mine so it has not been identifided. it is very hard to get a pic cause of size and location. IF any one has any pics of bad anemones i could ID it by looking at at the pics i receive. in the mean time i will keep trying to get a pic of mine.

 

Look up aptaisia pic and see if thats what you got.

 

also wondering why these are bad. is it that they reproduce so fast or is there another reason?

 

Their tentacles can sting & kill other corals. Get rid of them. Do NOT rip it off the rock. Peppermint shrimp usually will eat them & keep them under control. Other means of getting rid of them are: Joe's Juice & other commercially available control agents, injecting them with boiling water, injecting them with lemon juice. You may have to try a couple different methods to find the one that works for you.

 

Seen your second thread on this subject with a picture.

Aptaisia this is. If your LFS is selling these, it's a sign they're only out for your money, IMO.

Remove it before they take over.


Peppermint shrimp usually eat these (when the aptaisia is small). So after you remove, get a peppermint to help keep them under control.

 

Sounds like aiptasia to me. I had an out break of those recently. At first I was excited ("HEY NEW LIFE!!!!"), then I found out what they were and how bad they are... I went to the LFS and bought two peppermint shrimp. Now I am even more excited, my peppermint shrimp ate all the aiptasia and are now my favorite tank inhabitants.


Check out this website: Xtalreef
it pictures white aiptasia but it comes in brown too. Mine was also brown.

 

iif its aiptasia and theres only one its probley to late but take that rock out if you can set it outside or somewhere it wont stink you out and leave it out till next summer

 

If there is nothing else of value on that rock I'd take it out and soak it in a bleach solution for a few days. Soak the rock in fresh water with dechlorinator for a week. Change the water and add new dechlorinator every day. Then sock in RO water for a day or so. You can then add the rock back. I'd add carbon to your filter setup for a week or so just in case some bleach leaches out.

 

Thats a little extreme I think. If you do that you will be turning your $6/lb (or more) live rock into $1.50/lb base rock.

I would say try the peppermint shrimp first. In my case that was enough to do it. Some people claim they have had no luck at all with peppermint shrimp, the worked for me and they worked fast. Plus whether they work or not you will probably want them in there. They will eat left over fish food, dead things, other inverts molts they leave laying around, etc. Good guys to have.

If the shrimp don't work you can get a berghia, but understand that you are probably condemning it to death. After it clears your tank of aiptasia it will starve to death, as thats all it eats.

If you can't find a berghia, or don't want to kill the little guy and the store won't take him back, you can try aiptasia-x or other chemical solution.

Another method would be to take the rock out and run it under tab water and scrub the aiptasia off with a brush. Don't do this in your tank you will just help it spread there.