strange Growth in Aquarium --help? pic attached

[DanDPitts]

Recently I had a number of growths coming from some fairly new live rock (few months). At first I was not concerned, but it seems to be spreading. Is has a jelly like base, and brown stringy tops, some forming pod (mushroom) like tops. When distrubed, it retreats into the rock, and seems to sting corals next to it. Does anyone know what this is, and is it bad for a reef and fish aquarium (225 gals).

[johnski]

its quite hard to tell from the pic , but my guess is either aiptasia or colonial hydroids , both bad

[billsreef]

Looks like aiptasia. They have a potent sting and bother other critters. I usually use a very concentrated kalk past to inject into them and kill them.

[moumda]

Joe's juice has worked great for me.

[coralnut99]

Originally posted by johnski
its quite hard to tell from the pic , but my guess is either aiptasia or colonial hydroids , both bad

A better pic would certainly help quite a bit here, but I'm inclined to agrre with the colonial hydroid guess here. If it were aptasia, the problem would be tank-wide, and not as concentrated as the pic appears to be.

[Stanton]

I say colonial hydroids. Remove the rock before they spread further. I have them and waited to long to isolate them.

[coralnut99]

I agree with Stanton too. Since you already know them to be stingers, and you know they are spreading, don't waste time and pull the entire rock out if it's that isolated.

[a1amap]

If you reduce the zoom size of the picture and turn it clockwise, it is aptasia

[coralnut99]

Originally posted by a1amap
If you reduce the zoom size of the picture and turn it clockwise, it is aptasia

I agree. With a clump that thick it would be a pretty safe bet they'll show up in other parts of the tank soon enough.

[godlyme]

that reminded me of a child bringing home a rattle snake and asking if he can keep it as a pet under his blanket. My eyes grew large when i saw that picture

[luke33]

Definately aptasia, no doubt

[luke33]

Definately aptasia, no doubt

[KenStanley]

I agree looks like aiptasias to me.

A few months ago I added another 35lbs or live rock that was apparently infested with aiptasias.

Reef's Edge in Fort Lauderdale actually just sent out an email saying "Anyone having aiptasia problems??? I’ve got the cure; I just got a shipment in of aiptasia eating Peppermint shrimp. These shrimp are fed at Reef’s Edge a diet of nothing but aiptasia that we cultivate just for them. They immediately start eating aiptasia and will do the same in your aquarium!". So this weekend I'm going to get some and give it a try as well.

Here's what I've done and it seems works really well. I mix Kalkwasser into a very very strong concentrate and put it into a syringe. (I've been told that all Joe's Juice is, is Kalkwasser any how but I'm not 100% sure of that) Any how I turn off all the pumps and inject the Kalkwasser right into the aiptasia. Of course it immediately retracts but I follow him into the hole and continue to inject the Kalkwasser. Because the kalkwasser is so concentrated it kind of just lays there, filling the hole in the rock. I generally wait about 5-10 minutes and then turn the pumps back on. When the circulation comes back on be careful not to allow the Kalkwasser concentrate to come in contact with your corals. You may also need to put an air tube on the syringe so you can reach the more difficult places.

The ones I've treated this way have all died so this has worked very well for me but the problem is unless you are able to get every one of them the remaining ones just seem to propagate and before you know it there are more of them.

You certainly do not want to go crazy with the Kalkwasser mix. It really doesn't take much if you can get it right on them and in their hole. Good luck and be careful with the Kalkwasser.

[nasek718]

I've have had a Copperband Butterfly fish in my tank for years that seems to destroy them everytime they pop up (which is not that often but too often when they do). But I will warn you they are hit or miss.

[MechEng99]

I'm redundant...I use boiling water with kalk. I figure if the kalk paste doesn't get to them, the extremely high temp of the water in the paste will!

I haven't had enough of a problem for this, but I've heard that using a syringe (like the diabetes type)...squirting a little bit of boiling kalk paste in front of them will paralyze them, allowing you to poke the needle directing into the center and inject them with the boiling kalk paste from the inside.

[Regan]

Looks like Aptasia.
I agree with KenStanley. I use Joe's Juice with the pumps turned off so it doesn't get stirred up into the tank. After a few minutes I try to siphon out the weak parts of the Aptasia and any remaining kalk laying around. Any left over Aptasia, the peppermint shrimp should get. It's always worked for me.