Gulf Rock..aiptasia?

islandgirl95 · Feb 28, 2026

Found about five of these tiny, wispy hitchhikers on live rock I bought from Gulf Live Rock. I’ve read that the gulf doesn’t have the invasive aiptasia. Is that true? Has anyone kept these and they not spread? If it is aiptasia, what is the best way to get rid of it? The rock is in a quarantine tank so I am able to take the rock out of the water. Please help! Thanks!

tbrown · Feb 28, 2026

Those look like possible Aiptasia, yes. I've heard (no experience with this whatsoever) that the anemones from Gulf Live Rock is not the invasive variety of Aiptasia.

Frequently it's Lightbulb Anemones, but yours don't appear to be Lightbulbs.

Gone Reefin’ · Feb 28, 2026

I have TBS rock and GLR rock. Both came with organisms like this. Ball nems or aiptasia or whatever they are, they do not spread (at least in my experience). Long lived, I still have several around and have not moved or spread.

MegabiteOG · Feb 28, 2026

Glass anemone likely. I have a couple.
They came in on GLR and they don’t move or bother anything.

islandgirl95 · Mar 1, 2026

Gone Reefin’ said:
I have TBS rock and GLR rock. Both came with organisms like this. Ball nems or aiptasia or whatever they are, they do not spread (at least in my experience). Long lived, I still have several around and have not moved or spread.

Thanks so much for your input! Gulf rock is so pretty but I really don’t want an aiptasia problem so that’s so good to hear!

islandgirl95 · Mar 1, 2026

MegabiteOG said:
Glass anemone likely. I have a couple.
They came in on GLR and they don’t move or bother anything.

Thanks so much ! It’s good to hear from someone with that has kept them with no problem!

islandgirl95 · Mar 1, 2026

tbrown said:
Those look like possible Aiptasia, yes. I've heard (no experience with this whatsoever) that the anemones from Gulf Live Rock is not the invasive variety of Aiptasia.

Frequently it's Lightbulb Anemones, but yours don't appear to be Lightbulbs.

I thought they could be the glass anemone or lightbulbs too but when I googled it, they didn’t look alike. Maybe because they’re too tiny right now?

tbrown · Mar 1, 2026

islandgirl95 said:
I thought they could be the glass anemone or lightbulbs too but when I googled it, they didn’t look alike. Maybe because they’re too tiny right now?

Glass Anemone is another name for several of the Aiptasia species as far as I'm aware.

Lightbulbs are similarly colored but usually have the bulb shaped tentacles.

W31Olds · Mar 1, 2026

I have 2 of these that came in on my TBS Live Rock shipment. They have grown quite a bit but never multiplied. About three inches across.

MegabiteOG · Mar 1, 2026

tbrown said:
Glass Anemone is another name for several of the Aiptasia species as far as I'm aware.

Lightbulbs are similarly colored but usually have the bulb shaped tentacles.

Here's one of the 2 or 3 that came on my rock. All same place and they haven't spread at all. The rock was placed in the tank close to 5 months ago. I'm sure it's not the Aiptasia that spreads around as I have 2 or 3 of those as well.

islandgirl95 · Mar 2, 2026

W31Olds said:
I have 2 of these that came in on my TBS Live Rock shipment. They have grown quite a bit but never multiplied. About three inches across.

Oh wow! Thank u thank u thank for the input!! Feeling much better about keeping them now!

islandgirl95 · Mar 2, 2026

MegabiteOG said:
Here's one of the 2 or 3 that came on my rock. All same place and they haven't spread at all. The rock was placed in the tank close to 5 months ago. I'm sure it's not the Aiptasia that spreads around as I have 2 or 3 of those as well.

That’s so awesome! How big are they now? Thanks so much for sharing the pics. My husband was about ready to nuke all the live rock!

islandgirl95 · Mar 2, 2026

W31Olds said:
I have 2 of these that came in on my TBS Live Rock shipment. They have grown quite a bit but never multiplied. About three inches across.

Do you think this thing would grab one of your fishes being 3 inches??

W31Olds · Mar 2, 2026

Not concerned at all. Only a very sick fish gets caught by an anemone.

therealraf02 · May 6, 2026

A bit late, but rest assured. I also got a couple on my gulf live rock order, 2 or 3 different kinds. They don't seem to have multiplied much if at all and I have not witnessed any of them eating my fish. my kuekenthal's peppermint shrimp decimated the few "bad aiptasia" I had but did not touch these.