Hitch hiker ID help

We bought a few pieces of LR today at the LFS and one that we got has a hitch hiker on it that I'm not sure about. This picture is bad because we have a new kind of cheap digi camera that nobody knows how to use yet. I only managed to get pics that looked yellow, green, or in sepia. If the picture is no good let me know and I'll try to get a better one. Basically the thing is coming out of a hole in the rock on a stalk of sorts and has a defined mouth with (tentacles) around it and is brownish in color. I kind of want to make sure that this isnt something thats gonna cause me trouble. Thanks in advance for the help.

Ray

 

Aiptasia anemone and yes they have the potential to cause lots of problems.

 

In that case...

In that case.... whats the easiest way to get rid of it. This rock was purchased today, so could I just (shrug) cut it out or something? Or maybe I should leave it be and buy a peppermint shrimp to eat it? Thanks for the help.

Ray

 

Well...

Ok, I did a small bit of reading on the stuff and it seems that cutting it off the rock is the last thing I want to do. I see an article about injecting the thing with concentrated lemon juice in the base to kill it or just buy a natural predator. For those of you out there who have had these guys in your tanks, what method did you use to get rid of them?

Ray

 

Hey Ray, That Sure Likes A Hitchhiker I Just Got At My Lfs. What I've Been Told Is It's A Nuisance, Will Multiply If Touched And May Eventually Overrun.......it Has Been Recommended, But I Haven't Tried It, To Load A Syringe With Boiling Water And Hit The Thing Directly.....let Me Know If It Works!

 

How large is the rock that it is growing on? If you can i would try to get it out of there fast. You might want to try taking it out of the water and cutting it out, then brushing all remains away and wash it alot...You can try injecting it with lemon juice of kalkwasser.

 

Hitch Hiker

Its not a large rock at all. I'm going to remove it today and boil/lemon juice/something the little punk out.

 

actually, the best way to remove it is use a kalk/water blend and apply it to the aiptasia with a syringe. it will imediatly close up and eat it. you may have reapply it a few times if it's a larger aiptasia but this will work. Get kent kalk, put a little on a plate, add a little water to make it pasty, microwave it so it bubbles. syringe the mix and squirt it cleanly on the aiptasia. This will do it. I had a hitchhiker and I applied this and voila it was gone and with no new ones. If you try to remove the aiptasia more will grow, any reminent left in the hole of the existing one will grow multiples. They suggest never to pull, cut, or poke the aiptasia. the minute you touch it it will pull into it's home but they love the kalk mix. try that before manual removal. the lemon juice and hot water don't really work and peppermint shrimp will only eat small tiny aiptasia.

 

damn that sounds like some serious work I hope I dont come across one of these guys

 

When you say inject, you mean stab it with the syringe and inject the boiling water into it? Id like some more info since im planning on doing this in a couple hours. I managed to get a super fine syringe to stab it with.