Is this Aiptasia?

Thatgirlnyx

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I found these popping up in my coral QT tank. Are they Aiptasia? Magnified because they are very small. Found on glass and in my HOB pump. I added a few coral last week (mushroom, Duncan, gorgonian), to QT and I didn’t see anything on them? They must have been so small couldn’t see them. I did a coral dip with Coral Rx and did a visual inspection before putting in the tank - I have been removing the ones I see with tweezers but I cannot find the source. I thought about buying a Berghia nudibrach? I have Aiptasia X but these things are extremely small. Any advice would be greatly appreciated- thank you

IMG_0310.jpeg IMG_0309.jpeg
 

EricR

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Not sure but there are tons of different types of hydroids so maybe?

I found some that looked a little different but still with the ball ends on tentacles in QT during breakdown once.
A few ended up in my tank but just went away on their own.

Not a good answer but just a thought:

hydroid1.jpeg
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Definatly do not look like aiptasia. Maybe @ISpeakForTheSeas can assist with an ID
I answered for OP in PM already, but here's the PM (OP already got rid of the critter in question):

Hydroid (Hydrozoan) is a good guess (my first thought was a Sphaerocorynid hydroid die to the ball tips on the tentacles), but the anatomy is wrong for it.

I'm fairly certain you've got a Stalked Jellyfish (Staurozoan); if the tentacles all come in little clusters, that would confirm it, but I can't tell for sure from the pictures. Anyway, stalked jellies are not common in our tanks, so I'm not very familiar yet with the various species, but for hobbyist purposes, they're basically rare hydroids.

Assuming you have stalked jellyfish here, just because of how uncommon they are in our tanks, I'd be tempted to say you should start up a pico tank for them or offer them out to public aquariums, universities/high schools, other hobbyists, etc. just to see if anyone wants them. I would imagine care would involve feeding live feed like baby brine shrimp, copepods, rotifers, etc.
 

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