i need help to id this potential pest

[nitefall101]

first off i know the quality is bad and super hard to see and i apologize but thats the best picture i can get

i have no clue what that thing is but kinda looks like a little aiptasia but i could be wrong im still pretty new to the hobby and would like advice and help to identify and the process to remove.

it looks like it’s either on the frag plug or right on/behind my zoa if that helps any

thank you for any help.

 

[tbrown]

Unfortunately it does look like an Aiptasia hiding in the Zoas.

 

[tbrown]

Sometimes Kalk paste injected directly into the mouth works, other times it can just encourage it to spread.

I've had the best luck injecting boiling water into the mouth of Aiptasia. I take a coffee cup and cook water in the microwave, suck up a partial syringe of the water and quickly inject straight into the Aiptasia.

I prefer to do it outside the aquarium in a cup or bowl of tank water to hopefully help keep any babies from being released in the aquarium while you're injecting it.

 

[Bucrob]

first off i know the quality is bad and super hard to see and i apologize but thats the best picture i can get

i have no clue what that thing is but kinda looks like a little aiptasia but i could be wrong im still pretty new to the hobby and would like advice and help to identify and the process to remove.

it looks like it’s either on the frag plug or right on/behind my zoa if that helps any

thank you for any help.

I would say a very small aptasia, you can try a hydrogen peroxide dip, zoas are normally pretty resilient to it and it could kill the aptasia. You could also do a berghia nudibranch to get it to eat it.

 

[fish_collector]

Superglue over it

 

[code4]

Lots of choices. I hate them. And would prefer losing a coral as to have aiptasia take over my tank.

If that is the only one in your tank I would remove it. Take the plug out of your tank. Scrape the zoas off the plug and cut the little beast out. Wear gloves if you have them.

Funny thing about aiptasia. They can sit and not spread for a really long time. Or blow up like popcorn. And they can grow huge!

I would not risk it personally. My two cents worth. You can put the zoa into a small jar with rocks in the bottom. In a low flow area to attach.

 

[nitefall101]

I would say a very small aptasia, you can try a hydrogen peroxide dip, zoas are normally pretty resilient to it and it could kill the aptasia. You could also do a berghia nudibranch to get it to eat it.

could i take the rock out and get tweezers and get it from its base and get all of it?

 

[fish_collector]

could i take the rock out and get tweezers and get it from its base and get all of it?

Nope. You'll never get all of it and it will spread faster

I don't know what it's mechanism is for reproduction, but it's well known that it's juices can release cells that will settle and grow into replicas of the parent.

Lots of good info on getting rid of them, I've had good luck just using super glue gel and covering it completely. Some use boiling water, some use kalk paste, lemon juice used to be recommended for them but that was proven to not be effective.

IMO they aren't that big of a deal unless you ignore them completely, they will colonize a whole rock like GSP if you let them lol. They do irritate anything nearby that they can touch so in a smaller tank they should be removed if possible. You'll never get rid of them completely though. I have them in my sps tank and a copperband butterfly was my solution, now they only grow under the rack where the copperband cannot reach so I have just left them there to do what they do, there are so many of them they've got to be acting as a nutrient export of some sort lol.

 

[code4]

Read up on folks trying to get rid of them. I take everything off the plugs they arrive on and do a dip. Then place on a new plug after I inspect them. Had them. Hate them.

Good luck.