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Unknown invert in zoa


photofemme5

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I am a new reefer as of December 2018. I have a 16 gal BioCube that was cycled with live rock, live sand, and some crabs. I now have assorted softies, LPS and two seahorses. In the live rock I have seen a bristleworm (yuck!), I think a mini brittle star, and a few snails. I bought the zoa 2 weeks ago. About one week ago the zoa closed up never to reopen. At the same time I started to see little leg-like hairs coming from the zoa. After a week it looks like this! (See photo) I have done much research and finally found what it may be...aiptasia! What do you think. I have read horrible things about this guy (pest). Please advise.  

unknown invert.jpg

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Aiptasia for sure. As far as pests go I wouldn't say they are the worst. Peppermint shrimp eat them if they are the right species. If you manually remove it try and get the entire stalk as they can split into more.

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Christopher Marks

Welcome to the community @photofemme5! 👋

 

That sure looks like an aiptasia anemone to me. Ideally you should remove the whole zoanthid colony frag, place it in a small container of water from your tank, and proceed with anemone removal outside of the tank. Give it a good rinse in a second container of tank water before returning it, just to be safe.

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Thank you for the welcome. When you say removal...pull it out with tweezers or dip? I will be heading over to my LFS to pick up some peppermint shrimp ASAP, too! I just  now read about "aptaisia ex", but I rather go the natural route because of the seahorses....if I can.  

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Tweezers is what I always used to use. I'm pretty sure you can also inject them with fresh water if you have a syringe handy. I'd follow christophers advice of taking the frag out, using tweezers to get the aiptasia as low as possible and then rinse it well.

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I use aptasia x and just hit em with it as I spot them. 

 

Id avoid peppermint shrimp personally, the chance that that they can also start eating corals makes them not worth the risk imo. 

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Christopher Marks
24 minutes ago, photofemme5 said:

Thank you for the welcome. When you say removal...pull it out with tweezers or dip? I will be heading over to my LFS to pick up some peppermint shrimp ASAP, too! I just  now read about "aptaisia ex", but I rather go the natural route because of the seahorses....if I can.  

There are a few different methods for removal, but I'll leave the recommendations to others. I have less personal experience with them, other than regretting not removing the very first one I saw! 😅 You should search the forum for aiptasia removal too, if you're curious to see how others have tackled the issue.

 

I'd avoid adding a peppermint shrimp for now, they sometimes go after corals as well once the aiptasia supply runs out.

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EthanPhillyCheesesteak

Don’t take your chances with peppermint shrimp, I had one that grew to the size of a large clownfish, and it almost ate everything in the tank.

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5 minutes ago, jambon said:

I have had some luck with a torch lighter...remove as much as you can dig off them hit the base till it's well done. 

on a rock with zoas?  

 

isn't this very dangerous to do especially near zoas?  

 

 

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MainelyReefer

Aiptasia X works, manual removal is supposed to make them release something called planula which are larvae that settle and grow a new Aiptasia, I have super glued them too with varied results, H2O2 makes them bubble too.

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66432F36-44AC-44C0-94A6-7536AF91949C.thumb.jpeg.da40ccf4ad0f2903f274d72a769d7ba7.jpegB1F5424D-87E7-4CAE-B13C-8F80517ECEED.thumb.jpeg.82ed8b4a3d6d4b2d0246652a3a6f491a.jpegIt’s a zoa. This what it looked like BA...before aiptasia. Arg...I just came home with two peppermint shrimp. So, I removed the Zoa from the tank, popped it off the rock, and cut the Zoa in half while in a bucket of tank water. I rinsed the half without the pest really well In another bucket of tank water. I then placed it back in the tank.  I tossed the other half. Now I gotta worry about the pep shrimp eating my coral. These are my seahorses...

9DA11996-0EAF-4463-B984-AB053CEA005C.jpeg

EE72390F-9D22-48A6-9DDF-272F7B1D44E9.jpeg

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I would just watch the shrimp it really depends on the species and its kind of hard to tell them apart so some are less reef safe than others. There's a few similar species that are considered "peppermint shrimp". I do think 2 might be overkill though for a 16 gallon. Awesome seahorses the tank looks great!

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Looks like I may have jumped the gun on getting peppermint shrimp (2). I'll ask my lfs if I can trade one/both back in:)  It's a good thing I am already in the market for the 32 BioCube (Once I get my tax check!) Maybe I can transfer them there depending on what I end up doing. Down the road I'll go non-BioCube and bigger....much bigger! I am hooked on reefing, and thank you everyone for your suggestions and help!

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