Are these Aiptasia?

[Kycats21]

Hello! I am cycling a new Fluval Evo 5 with wet live rock purchased from my LFS....are these pics of Aiptasia? They are both pretty small, though the brownish looking one is probably .5 in, whereas the white-ish one is much smaller, maybe 1-5mm tops. Thanks!

 

[Rjukan]

Hi! Yes, they do indeed look like aiptasia. I've recently used the boiling water in a syringe method and it worked great at eradicating them.
And welcome to R2R!

 

[wculver]

Yes those are aptasia. Not the end of the world though as most reefers have a few of them. I've been successful using peppermint shrimp to control them as a long term solution. You can also manually manage them with aptasiaX if you're looking for a quick solution. I've found though that the natural solution works better and it's a long-term solution.

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

They appear to be. In the past I have used a syringe with lemon juice concentrate helped to kill them.

 

[Kycats21]

Thanks for the quick replies! I will try the peppermint shrimp option as my first livestock addition when my tank is cycled and see how that goes before I start adding coral.

My plan for the tank is mostly coral and inverts, possibly one fish. How many peppermint shrimp could I add in this 5 gallon and still keep a fish or goby?

 

[KrisReef]

Get a Peppermint shrimp and let it eat those before you add anything else to the tank, which should be cycled now with the rocks you added.

 

[Kycats21]

I also appear to have a decent population of tiny bristle worms (plus 2-3 that are 1in+).
Then there is this larger one that I will monitor in hopes it is not a "fire" bristle worm!

 

[Rjukan]

Tbh I'm hesitant to add any peppermint shrimp again, since the last ones I had got a taste for my acans, and at the very least would rip food away from them and other corals I would try and spot feed. Unless you had an infestation of aiptasia, then I feel as though manual removal is a better course of action. To each their own tho.