What is this growing in the middle of my Zoas?

[Tomas45]

Hey Guys,

 

Not the greatest pic, but there is this random green thing growing right in the middle of my zoas, any help is much appreciated.

 

[seabass]

Not the greatest pic

+1

[Tomas45]

+1

 

I will try to get a better pic, but its that aggressive looking thing in the middle.

[seabass]

I'm just guessing that it's a pest anemone; but sorry, can't tell from the pic.

[Tomas45]

Better pics.. Its right in the middle, its green. Thanks for the help

 

 

 

[Tbone675]

aiptasia

[seabass]

Looks like it might be an aiptasia anemone. They do reproduce, move, and cause problems. There are a number of threads discussing aiptasia. There are a number of ways people use to remove them (from lemon juice to lasers). They are certainly interesting creatures, but are relatively unattractive and will irritate your coral at best, and kill some of your corals at worse.

[LongDoggy]

I actually have something growing in one of my paly colonies as well.

I have had an aptasia before, I've also had majanos. This looks nothing like either.

It rather appears to be an oversized paly and the green is not as bright as the rest of the colony, it's sort of a dull green. . I'm saying its a paly because it has particles of sand in the stalk, it also is green like the rest of the colony.

Unless its a hybrid paly/aptasia, I'd say its the deformed paly brother. Which is multiplying at about the same rate as the rest of the paly colony. I have about 30 good heads and 4-5 deformed heads.

The frag started as about 10-15 heads total, one was this deformed polyp.

Anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

[seabass]

I actually have something growing in one of my paly colonies as well... it rather appears to be an oversized paly and the green is not as bright as the rest of the colony, it's sort of a dull green.

That's not uncommon, especially if collected from the wild. They are probably Button Polyps (Protopalythoa sp.), sometimes also called Moon Polyps, Encrusting Anemones, or Sea Mats. I've found them to occasionally irritate surrounding polyps; and because they can be less attractive, I'll remove them.

[LongDoggy]

That's not uncommon, especially if collected from the wild. They are probably Button Polyps (Protopalythoa sp.), sometimes also called Moon Polyps, Encrusting Anemones, or Sea Mats. I've found them to occasionally irritate surrounding polyps; and because they can be less attractive, I'll remove them.

 

That actually makes sense. They do resemble button polyps. And I did notice this colony "self frag". About 10 good heads split off from the main colony at around the point where the button polyps were forming. So I seat thank you to nature and glued the healthy frag of ten to a price of rock rubble. I'm planning to let the button/paly rock grow out and see what happens. So long as its no harm to my other corals I'm ok with it.