IS IT AIPTASIA??????

[chessie]

Have got something growing out of one of the rocks & am not sure just what it is. It's about the size of a thumbtack, sits low on the rock, is rust in color w/no tentacles/polyps extending. When the lights are off, it does shrivel up & is a dark brown color. Did a 'rock check' & have found no others in tank. Any help is appreciated - thanks!

 

[kris]

Aiptasia have tentacles and a large center disc (mouth) they are brown in color sometimes you can see the tube and othertimes they lay flat against the rock.

 

[chuck]

It sounds like a zooanthind which is good. If you want to see if it is an aptasia buy a peppermint shrimp and give him a few weeks, if it is an aptasia he should devour it. Whatever you do don't try to scrub it off you rock or try to pull it off. If it does happen to be a pesky aptasia and you tear it, tiny particles will settle all over your tank and new aptaisas will pop up. I have heard of stories of people having carpets of these pests covering the rocks and floor of their tanks. There are also chemical remidies for these anenomes, but I am unsure of how effective they are. http://www5.ios.com/~rose8/stop1.htm http://www.ewtech.com/chem-marin/
Here are two sites about aptasia problems.

 

[kass]

Sounds like a zooanthid or button polyp. They don't harm anything and are welcome to a reef. I got alot of them on fiji rock. Mine fluoresce under the actinic lights. Some are colored and some not.
Aiptasia have longer tentacles.