Zoanthid Pest

[Nick Palladino]

Hello. I put some zoanthid frags in my tank about a week ago, and I noticed these pests on one of the frags. It looks like aiptasia to me but I'm not sure because it's brown and very tiny. So far I have noticed two of them. They are both moving, and can retract into a very tiny ball. One of them is actually on a fake rock right next to the frag, so it either moved or was brushed onto the rock. What should I do? Thanks.

I should also mention I dipped my zoanthids with both Revive and Seachem Reef Dip before introducing them to the tank.

 

[Turnage]

Remove the frag from the tank and manually remove the pests with tweezers.

 

[Nick Palladino]

Are there any further steps I should take? I know that with aiptasia, they can come back after being removed with tweezers. Also, I would like to identify it if possible.

 

[ScottB]

I have seen those before. They retract to light and movement so hard to kill with Kalk paste. They are not aiptasia. But they don't multiply like aiptasia thankfully. I don't know if they irritate things. Absent other suggestions, I would scrape/pinch/remove.

 

[Turnage]

After removal of the pest dip the coral in a bowl of tank water to rinse it off. Done this before with aiptasia and never had a problem after that. As far as ID, it looks like aiptasia but without a clearer picture it's hard to tell. Time is not on your side when it comes to pests. Get them out ASAP or you will see more of them.