Little brown green thing that flows living under the rock of my new coral. Aiptasia? Dinos?

[Herides]

Just noticed it tonight but coming from underneath the piece of live rock that my new (as of 3 days ago) cauliflower colt coral (which I did do a coral dip for) is this greenish brown thing that was more "open" when I first spotted it and started hiding when I starting lighting it up with a flashlight for the picture. I'm scared it's aiptasia because when I first saw it is had a circular shape with thimgs flowing around it like tentacles, but the tentacles have little light brown balls or dots on the tips (which you can see in the pic) and you can barely see the tentacle which makes me think maybe it's dino and those are air bubbles? Please help?

Just took another look after finishing writing this up and it's almost completely disappeared back under the rock, maybe it's sensitive to strong (flash light) light? Spooky.

 

[Herides]

Also sorry for the crummy picture quality, I'll try to post a better one later

 

[fishguy242]

hi,hard to see in pic,sounds like manjano,would remove

 

[Herides]

hi,hard to see in pic,sounds like manjano,would remove

How would I remove it without causing more? Tell me like I'm 5, these are my first corals, first tank and I like to know every step and detail. Thanks!

 

[fishguy242]

remove whole rock ,chip off ,make sure to get base of nem

 

[Herides]

remove whole rock ,chip off ,make sure to get base of nem

How long do I have to hunt it down before it spreads if it can spread? I won't be able to get to it until I come home from work tomorrow. Also will it be obvious to spot on the rock out of water?

 

[fishguy242]

if only one should not be a problem,yes will be able to see when out of water,wear eye protection if chipping with hammer and chisel

 

[Herides]

if only one should not be a problem,yes will be able to see when out of water,wear eye protection if chipping with hammer and chisel

oh god ok, I hope when I get around to it it's in a location easy to chip off so as I don't hurt my coral. When I get a chance before I try chipping it off I'm going to try and get a better photo. Thanks.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Hold it, I don't think that's a majano. Before you do anything drastic, I would wait until morning to get a better pic because all I can see is a blue sponge. So tomorrow morning, take a picture of the thing while in daylight and we can give you a better diagnosis. Chiseling random stuff off the rocks, while not harmful, can be useless and will stress the coral that lives on the rock.
Good luck!

 

[Herides]

Hold it, I don't think that's a majano. Before you do anything drastic, I would wait until morning to get a better pic because all I can see is a blue sponge. So tomorrow morning, take a picture of the thing while in daylight and we can give you a better diagnosis. Chiseling random stuff off the rocks, while not harmful, can be useless and will stress the coral that lives on the rock.
Good luck!

He came out and I took several good photos imma post them all, it's not the blue thing that's part of the rock, it's the little browinish green circle/oval with the lighter shaded balls around it. The last few photos are the best ones I can clearly see transparent arms connecting the oval to the balls.

 

[Herides]

Anyone watching this post and might not get a note or anything from the above reply, the above reply has better pics.

 

[F i s h y]

I think this is a majano anemone. Chiseling will work as stated before but there are other alternatives. Do a search for removing aptasia anemones and you can follow the same procedures. For instance I have had success in the past injecting them with kalkwasser or lemon juice.

 

[F i s h y]

I pulled this photo off Google its a majano. Does it look like yours?

 

[F i s h y]

Also beautiful colt coral. One of my fav softies. Im still looking for a peice for my tank. It used to be very common. Not so much anymore.

 

[Herides]

I think this is a majano anemone. Chiseling will work as stated before but there are other alternatives. Do a search for removing aptasia anemones and you can follow the same procedures. For instance I have had success in the past injecting them with kalkwasser or lemon juice.

I'm thinking about seeing if I can chisel it off, if I can or or even if I cant to deal with any remnants, dousing the rock (while not touching the coral) in lemon juice, I'll try injecting if I can find a syringe, and the sealing offthe whole rock (excluding the coral) with epoxy to seal it all in.

 

[Herides]

I pulled this photo off Google its a majano. Does it look like yours?

Not quite actually, idk what majano looks like when it's young, in that if young ones have balls on the tips or transparent tentacles, but in my panic googling I did find out "ball anemones" exist:

Orange Ball Anemone | Melev's Reef

Another tiny and virtually undetectable creature is the Orange Ball Anemone. It is actually from the mushroom family, and not an anemone at all. However, due to its appearance, it was named accordingly. I have found these scattered throughout my tank, usually closed up all day long but opened up...

www.melevsreef.com

This example on melevs reef look pretty dang close but I'm not confident that I can make the call to calm down yet. Other forums talking about these also claim they can be sensitive to light with gives me some hope but again, still worried.

 

[Herides]

Also beautiful colt coral. One of my fav softies. Im still looking for a peice for my tank. It used to be very common. Not so much anymore.

Thank you! I'm very pleased with it and I desperately hope that wherever this rogue anemone looking thing goes, I can save the coral.

 

[F i s h y]

Not quite actually, idk what majano looks like when it's young, in that if young ones have balls on the tips or transparent tentacles, but in my panic googling I did find out "ball anemones" exist:

Orange Ball Anemone | Melev's Reef

Another tiny and virtually undetectable creature is the Orange Ball Anemone. It is actually from the mushroom family, and not an anemone at all. However, due to its appearance, it was named accordingly. I have found these scattered throughout my tank, usually closed up all day long but opened up...

www.melevsreef.com

This example on melevs reef look pretty dang close but I'm not confident that I can make the call to calm down yet. Other forums talking about these also claim they can be sensitive to light with gives me some hope but again, still worried.

Aptasia and majano spread much more rapidly than ball anemones. But all 3 can be eliminated the same way. Happy reefing

 

[homer1475]

Harmless ball anemone. Not majano at all IMO. @KJ

Just because it's brown and looks like a nem, doesn't necessarily means its a majano.

Google ball anemone, and see if your pictures match. I;m not saying it's not a majano, but the pics do look more like a ball anemone to me(which is not a anemone at all, but rather in the mushroom family).

 

[Herides]

Harmless ball anemone. Not majano at all IMO. @KJ

Just because it's brown and looks like a nem, doesn't necessarily means its a majano.

Google ball anemone, and see if your pictures match. I;m not saying it's not a majano, but the pics do look more like a ball anemone to me(which is not a anemone at all, but rather in the mushroom family).

That's what I've done and yet I'm not fully convinced that it is or isn't. Half the Google results for ball anemone are things that do look like it, and the other pics of big anemone looking things also in the same classification (genus? I need to brush up on my taxonomy), so I'm 50/50 on it being "harmless" critter, and harbinger of plague. Even if it is the harmless one should I still eradicate it, because 50% of forum posts about them I've read are precautionary tales saying you should eradicate them like other pest anemones and the other 50% saying they're cool? So much uncertainty has me horrified.