Should I LOSE This Rock ?

squidd

squidd

Active Member
I got this rock late last night from a guy tearing down his tank...It's supposed to have polyps on it...
But now that the lights are on and the "stuff" is poking its heads out... I'm not so sure...:confused:
The first pic I'm fairly certain is aptasia and will be killed shortly...
It's brown, lives in a hole, very short stem, tapered tenticals...
But after "searching"aptasia photos I'm not sure on the ID in second photo...Longer translucent green stems,brownish even width tenticals, yellow center spot,polyps "external" of rock when retracted...
ID PLEASE... before I "boil" the whole rock...Thank you---:)
:cool:
Pic..1
 
matti070

matti070

Member
not sure wat they are...look like huge button polyps or zooanthids to me. ask Bang Guy, he knows about this stuff.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
OK, I "pasted" the first one...That was cool...kind of like the Wicked Witch of the West..."I'm Melting, AAGGHH"...:D
Still waiting for a positive ID on the second picture...
In the meantime, is there a "easy" way to remove the "hair" from the rock beside "picking" at it...Can I put the rock in a bucket of SW and "scrub" it with a toothbrush?
:cool:
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I agree. The first is Aiptasia the second are Yellow Polyps (a colonial anemone).
Just leave the hair for now and see if it goes away on its own. I think it will.
 
sterling

sterling

Member
Squid, I've been off the message board for awhile because I was so upset over my tank and what had happened to it.
So first off....GET RID OF THAT ROCK!!! It is HAIR ALGAE on it and it will spread like wild fire.
I introduced some to my tank several months ago on some new rock and it took over my tank.
My tests, i.e. calcium, alk, ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate etc, etc have always been good. Didn't matter. within a month it had spread badly!!
I tried everything to get rid of it. More crabs, more snails, 4 royal urchins, lawnmower blenny, reduced the lighting, reduced feeding of fish etc, etc. to absolutely no avail.
So, a week ago I took all the rock out, for the second time, the pieces of rock that were basically bottom rock that didn't have alot of algae on it, I scrubbed with a hard brush under hot water. The rest of the rock, I threw away. I'm talking about $400.00 worth of rock. I don't have the facilities to store and try to reclaim the rock, so out it went. At this point I didn't care. I just wanted my tank healthy and beautiful again.
So now I have about 1/3 of the rock I had before. I turned part of my wet/dry/sump into a refugium. I cleaned the sides of the tank until the sparkled. I took all the filters and pumps out and scrubbed under hot water, and the water heaters, and the wires/tubing etc.
I stirred up the DSB and then did a 50% water change.
After several hours when the sediment settled back down, including dead hair algae, I vacuumed the sand and moved the rock around again, getting under it all.
I have started buying a few new pieces of rock, which I examined carefully first.
I also dumped a product called S.A.T. in the tank. It's suppose to help rid hair algae. And they strongly recommend using it BEFORE it gets out of hand. So now that things look pretty clean I went ahead a put it in.
So as you can see, you do not want to have to deal with hair algae, so get that rock out. Look for any place else it may have spread to, and beat it early in the game.
 
c marlowe

c marlowe

Member
Hair algae is almost DEFINATELY present already in the tank, and everyone elses for that matter. It is nearly impossible not to introduce hair algae spores to a tank. I would worry more about the aiptasia. Even when they are kalk nuked, there may be enough left to grow.
 
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