What the heck is this?

[LStone]

This is growing on my FOWLR SW tank on a piece of live rock...it's about the size of a penny and it moves. I don't have any special lighting on this tank, so I have no idea what it is...any guesses? 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Rybren]

Looks like Aptasia to me.  It's a pest anemone that can sting your corals/fish.

Then again, my ID could be wrong   

[LStone]

Fun! Wanna buy it? 

PS- How do I get rid of it? It's the only one I see, should I just pluck it with twizzers?

[martin_jones]

Don't pluck it with tweezers - it'll spread.

Inject with vinegar or get aptasia-x.

Martin

[Snider82]

do you think a fish would get close enough to it to get hurt?

[LStone]

Thanks for the info...so I take the rock out and put a few drops of vinegar on it or actually inject it with a syringe?

It's growing fast, today I noticed that its tips are like little bubbles...I was hoping it would be something desirable, lol.

[Rybren]

Hmmm, I'm not expert, but I believe that Aptasia has pointed tips and Mojano has more of a bubble or rounded tip.  So... maybe you have Mojano.  It's still a pest; however, I don't believe that it's as pesky as Aptasia.

Why not leave it for a while and see what develops?  Your fish are likely safe for now. 

Try reading through Wet Web Media or do a Google search (both web and image search) for Aptasia or Mojano.

Good luck.

[Hookup]

If you can remove the rock, do so, scrub it with a toothbrush under tap-water of a similar temperature... (test by hand for "close to same temp")... scrub the sucker off...

If you cannot remove the rock, the above work, but equally effective is a syringe of kalkwasser mix at crazy high concentrations... put a DROP or TWO in the mouth of the thing... say bye-bye...

Ive got several that appeared when I lost my Peppermint shrip.. I've got new P-shrimp but there are several that are too big for them to eat, so I've got to do the Kalk trick...

BTW, KALK is used to dose into tanks... usually diluted... but putting a drop or two (or three or 10) of high concentrated mix into the tank will not harm nothing but the specific item you put the drop on... I think its a highly "basic" mix (as opposed to acidic) that burns... but it quickly dilutes... so overall it hurts only what you put the drop on...

Most PPL who dose with KALK would give you a dimebag of it, which should last you a long time for this purpose.

[Tyler.L]

aptasia or its a zoo polyp stretching for the light its hard to tell really from the pic....get a pic of the mouth if possible. If you try to touch it does it retract and disappear or what?

what also works is injecting with lemon juice, i have done it and it works very well....the acidity in the lemon juice kills them.

[QueensU]

Don't get caught selling dimebags of Kalk around town! You'll end up in jail! haha

Book Em Danno!

I need to get some too though! I have an aiptasia that I was kind of keeping an eye on. But it has spawned a little son/daughter, and it stung my hand tonight while I was moving some frags around. I'm going to use HCL or sodium hydroxide in a syringe.

Does anyone know if killing them this way has a tendency to spread small pieces around the tank? I'd rather have one big one than 30 small ones.

Cheers,

[groupie02]

it looks like aiptasia but the picture is not clear enough to be 100% sure. get some nice (real) peppermint shrimp if you don't want to worry about them.

[LStone]

Wow, the more I read on the net about either of these pests it gets scarier and scarier, lol.

It does retract when touched or when I move the rock and the tips are more bubbly, so I'm thinking majano. Either way I'm going to get rid of it by injecting it with something

I'll keep you posted and will try to get a better pic before I exterminate it.

[Vincenzo.]

if its a single majano your fine. iv'e had one in my tank for almost a year and it's never split/spread. i have more probs with flatworms than anything

[Rybren]

... dimebag of it, which should last you a long time for this purpose.

Ahh, this explains where all the money is coming from for those high-tech aquarium gizmos and high-end fly rods.

[Severum]

I just use lemon juice concentrate on a syringe. IT works really well and that way you can inject it right into their body rather than just the head. They dissolve... 

[Fishhead89]

It's definately an apstasia.

I'm dealing with them in two tanks right now. One butterflyfish took two weeks to settle in, then BAM
all of my apstasias were gone. The other tank I'm looking to try a peppermint shrimp in.

[Rybren]

LStone,

If you need some Kalk powder, I can give you some.  As Severum mentioned, lemon juice works too.

[Hookup]

FYI; just attacked several with lemon juice and KALK.  No needle, just squirted them... (didn't have a needle)

Results to be posted as they occur.