PLease help Identify!

[jr2sndbrd]

Hey guys,
I am fairly new to the saltwater tank, I have had my tank for about five months now it was allready established. Transfered everything from a guy that i bought it from about 60 miles away, saved water and all. My rock has regained its red color, but i have all these green and brownish plants overtaking my tank. How can I control them or even cut some of them. At first they were cool looking but they have completely overtaken my tank!!! Help! Not even sure what these are called would love to know!

Ty
Lil John

 

[sunnymittu]

It Depends What You Feeding Your Tank These Days
Test For Phosphate Level
Test For Iron
If Both Are High
With High Nitrate
Then Man This Typical Brown Hash Algae Which Grows On Sea Shores
Dim Your Light A Bit
Change Water
Then See If Those Activity Have Some Efeect On These Growing Things

 

[zoalover34]

They are apista.. Your feeding really has no affect on these. From my understanding water quality has nothing to do with them.. They were probably on some rock when you got it..They spread pretty fast as you can tell lol. Your best bet is to take the rock out that has alot and scrub it.. Try buying Joes juice or you can also try peperment shrimp. They have been known to eat them..

 

[TRe]

like jim said water quality has nothing do with these (definitly aptasia btw) except taking the rocks out and scrubbing wont help either! redsea's atasia x works really good! also peppermint shrimp sometimes eat them but its kinda hit or miss some eat them some dont, you can try injecting them with a kalk paste, lemon juice or almost boiling water works aswell... goodluck tho i kno they can be a PITA oh and welcome to the site!

 

[jr2sndbrd]

Thanks so much guys, I do a 15 gal water change every 3 weeks, my levels have been pretty good. Just want to get these things trimmed down a bit! Its wierd they react when i try to touch them or take the rock out of the water but when i put them back in they open back up. Am I dealing with a type of plant or is it actually algae, just want to know what I am dealing with. Thank you all so much for your help.

Lil John

 

[Lotus]

Aiptasia are an anemone (an animal). Of course, that sounds good in theory, but as you've seen they take over the tank. As others said, get one of the commercial aptasia removers (or use kalk paste) to squirt in their mouths. It may take a couple of treatments to get rid of them all. I've used Blue Zoo Aiptasia Control with success.

I've also heard of people using lemon juice or boiling water in a syringe to inject into their mouths, but I haven't tried either.

 

[Lorna]

With that many the most economical way is probably to try injecting them with boiling water in a syringe....what doesn't die out this way can then be juiced using Joe's Juice. These are a pest and need to be eradicated as they will sting and kill anything else you put in the tank.....nasty little beggars.

 

[jr2sndbrd]

You guys are the bomb, last night i searched the web for 3 hrs and could not find any pics or characteristics that looked like what I have and sure enough i google aiptasia and i find plenty of pics of what is raiding my tank! So now that you have so told me how to get rid of them how do I keep them away! This forum is the bomb. Thank you Tre for the welcome and everybodyelse who has gave insight. It is well appreciated.

Lil john

 

[Lorna]

Well once you get rid of them you keep your eyes peeled and anytime you see one no matter how small you juice the sucker before he gets a foothold. Once you have the majority gone you could then try the peppermint shrimp as they do tend only to eat the little small ones...What size tank is that? some copperband butterfly fish will eat aiptaisia also, but they have their own issues......difficult to get eating prepared foods etc....

 

[sunnymittu]

first of all i will congratulate you
becouse very few people get a chance to see these things growing in tank
i must say u must be having some great water condition and live rocks
they are anemone they behave typically like anemone(retract)
however in your tank they are everyware
dont use aggression against them as they are also animal
howevr if you really want to remove them
take out each rock one by one
and do some hard work by removing them one by one with a twizer
if you cant do that
try sucking them in the power head
dont use any chemical(as u know chemicals are always chemicals)
or use a lemon juice
i would suggest removing them outside the tank

 

[zoalover34]

Alot of people see apista, you will never be able to remove them with a tweezer because the retract and and slimey.. Best bet is to just use joe's juice.. I highly doubt you can 'suck' them into a powerhead either..
and why would you suggest sucking them into a ph if you say not to be crule to the 'animals'..

 

[jr2sndbrd]

Thank You Jima and other for your help. It is a 55gal tank. I went to my lfs and they suggested the CBB as well. I have one on order and will try that first as there are way too many to be juicing. What do you guys think?

Lil John

 

[zoalover34]

When you say CBB do you mean copper band butterfly? If so they are kinda tricky to get to eat and also may nip at other corals in your tank, so beware..

 

[Lorna]

yes and if your lfs is ordering one for you remember, do not take this fish home unless you see it actually feeding and eating prepared food. They are difficult to get to eat but once they do they are good fish, just not reef safe due to their propensity to eat corals, anemones etc.

 

[jr2sndbrd]

I am glad to announce I am pretty much apatasia SP? free! I did more research and went the Joes Juice route and it worked like a charm! I did go to the lfs and almost bought a cbb but they did not succeed in feeding it in front of me. Also fyi California has banned joes juice due to epa regulations, seems bs to me but whatever. I finally found it and had to pay 20$ per bottle! Priceless however! I am going to search the forum but my next step[ is to clean the sand it has a lot of white fuzzy looking stuff lying on the top I am assuming its the decaying aptasia? any help would much be appreciated.

 

[Lorna]

Just suck it up with a siphon during your water change....