Unknown Animal

[JollyGreen]

Some of the algae in my tank is starting to clear off/die off. Today I noticed this guy, it's pretty small, my camera got a decent pic of it.

<img src="https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/jflemin9/public_html/saltwater_tank/unknown.jpg">

Let me know what you guys think it might be. It is growing on the rock with the feather dusters, but it looks slightly different than all the feather dusters. Maybe it's just another type.

JG

[bmac]

Not a clear pic, but it looks like aiptasia anemone. If it is you want to rekoveit. mix up some kalk as a thick paste and smear it on it.

[bmac]

remove it.....lol.....sorry abouit the mistype...

[zooqi]

It looks like one to me too and bmac got the right recipe for it. Even if is not is better not take a chance. Fight them early and you are happy and fight them later and they are happy :)

[JollyGreen]

You can't see from that picture but it has a tube below it. I tried to get a picture of the tube, but the whole thing is so small it's hard to get anything worth looking at. So I started looking at a bunch of pictures of Aiptasia trying to see what colors they are. All the aiptasia I can find is brown or clearish/brown, the guy I found has that hint of green in the rim. I ran across this anemone site:

<a href="http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/softcorals/anemones/anemones.htm">http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/softcorals/anemones/anemones.htm</a>

After looking at a bunch of pictures and reading I found tube anemones. It still doesn't really match anything 100%, probably because it is still too small, but I found these to look the closest:

<img src="http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/softcorals/anemones/Cmembranaceus.jpg">
<img src="http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/softcorals/anemones/Cmaua.jpg">
<img src="http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/softcorals/anemones/Camericanus.jpg">

I'm going to keep a close eye on the tank, because I really want to know what this thing is, hopefully I can identify it before it starts to spread.

Oh yeah, how do I go about making kalk paste, do I buy that or something?

Thanks for the suggestions
JG

[zooqi]

keep an eye on it and if you can take better picture it will help. It also can be a feather duster too.

[fishesRdelicious]

does it look like this
http://hometown.aol.com/daaydream/anemone.jpg
mix kalkwasser powder with water. add maybe a tablespoon of kalk and then add a little water, mix, then more water, mix. keep doing that until the constistancy is like toothpaste.
it is much easier to use a syringe. go to CVS or something similar and get a baby medicine syringe, thats what i use.
you want to inject the paste right into the anemones mouth and then cover it when it retracts.

[zooqi]

if is aiptasia you can feed it first (see if it will take food for you and that will confirm) and after it takes food you can use FRD recipe. Food will keep it from retracting full in the hole.

[Reef_Dweller_69]

What color is the tube and what material is it, can you tell? If you look closely at your pic the tenticles are not really individual tenticals. rather they are connected by a thin web like structure making it look like an umbrella ( hence filtering device). They are very very small and if you don't look good you will miss it. They are a type of tube worm here are some pics. These are the best I could find.....

http://www.cyhaus.com/marine/worms/worm2.jpg

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/feather.htm

Looks like what you have is either the Filograna implexa, Bispira variegata or the Bispira brunnea. I have both of them and a few with red crowns. Just my little .02 hope it helped.

[JollyGreen]

Well, I am still taking pictures trying to get a good shot of the tube and tentacles. I got this shot, which seems to be a bit more clear.

<img src="https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/jflemin9/public_html/saltwater_tank/unknown_clear.jpg">

[JollyGreen]

This is kind of fun. I'm more playing with my camera and trying out its settings than doing anything real now. I tried digital zoom and it looks like it actually got a better shot. I never believed in digital zoom until now. I'm going to have to wait for it to grow before I can get a good tube shot. However it looks like the tube is semi-translucent from other pictures I have taken.

<img src="https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/jflemin9/public_html/saltwater_tank/unknown_zoom.jpg">

[zooqi]

That looks like Anemone to me but not sure and it looks like anemone that has been in the shade for a while and color is kinda white. I would get ride of it.

[Reef_Dweller_69]

How big is it? It still doesn't look like aiptasia to. The tenticles just don't look like it. Then again I am just a noobi.

[JollyGreen]

It's about the size of a pin head, I guess about 1-2mm in diameter.

[fishesRdelicious]

i agree with zooqi,
do you have a macro setting it should be a flower

[JollyGreen]

I know I'm stubborn, but I really wanted to know what this thing is. I searched on the internet for a long time and read a lot about different anemones.

I found two pictures which I think match what I have perfectly except the thing I have is slightly green.

<a href="http://www.mer-littoral.org/05/photos-600x400/b15-07-600x400.jpg">Picture 1</a>

<a href="http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=D11070">Picture 2</a>

Notice the rim of the anemone and that it has little white bumps spaced evenly around it, the tips of the tentacles all have little white bubbles. I'm not sure if they are exactly the same, but I would bet it is some form of Epizoanthus.

While trying to learn about Epizoanthus I stumbled across this page
<a href="http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/invert.htm">Zoanthids</A>

The cool thing I didn't know is that zoanthids are anemones. It looks like the difference between a Zoanthus and an Epizoanthus is that Zoanthus have zooxanthellae algae which help feed the anemone. Epizoanthus feed solely on zooplankton.

I like this hobby more everyday, it's fun just looking at all the different creatures and reading about them.

[fishesRdelicious]

when i come down next weekend, i will see what it is and show you how to kill it if it is an aiptasia anemone.

[Stephany]

Hydroid?

[spoon25]

dont they call them things glass anenomes, same as aiptasia...isnt that what a glass anenome is?