What is this on my live rock

[cavalluzzi1248]

there is something growing on my live rock im curious what it is it looks like a sea anemone
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[geekdafied]

looks like aiptasia

[muecyl]

I agree, looks like aiptasia. You are going to want to get rid of them, they are evil.

[amcarrig]

Take a closer look at the polyps folks. No aiptasia I've ever seen has tenticles that look like that. I'm perplexed!

[omard]

I have them also in my tank...they seem to be little brown polyps that spread quite quickly. At first I thought it was some kind of algae, but a closer look proved otherwise.

They seem to grow only in patches like other polyps and are now spreading on my overflows which is fine by me.

May need to do some "cropping" in the future, but unless they are proven to be a hazard, will keep them around.


OmarD

[nemo79]

At first I thought they were aiptasia but at another look they have a very distinct look to the polyp. The polyps have a similar look to pumping xenia. I also noticed you have some tuffa rock in your tank. I used tuffa as base rock and I'll tell you it seeds really quickly if you have good LR in there. On another forum which I no longer visit people were telling me my tuffa would take forever to seed and that only LR should be used. Within 3 months my tuffa started having coraline and feather dusters on it. My tank will be a yr old in July and the tuffa is almost all purple now. Just remember to blow it off with a new turkey baster.

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by nemo79

At first I thought they were aiptasia but at another look they have a very distinct look to the polyp. The polyps have a similar look to pumping xenia.

Right. For lack of the "technical" terms, aiptasia don't have the additional "fronds" on each individual tenticle so aiptasia and a. majano can definitely be ruled out.

[omard]

Thank god not aiptasia - you fellers had me up in alarm---

Do see how these may get out of hand in the long run. Right now they are spreading in areas I don't really mind them.

They reproduce in patches so should not be difficult to contain if necessary.


OmarD

[coral reefer]

Possibly Anthelia(soft coral similar to Xenia)!