[connieyvonne]

Hi everyone!! My name is Connie...I live south Of chicao. I have my first saltwater tank set up. I am being brave and setting up a reef tank. It is a 48 gallon. I hope i have done it right. I have done alot of research and reading from this forum. The tank has been set up and cyclying for about 3 weeks now. the only live things I have put in it, other than the rock and sand is 4 snails and 6 crabs. yesterday I noticed "something" stuck on the front of my tank. It is small...only about 1/4" long with little tenacles...I think it is really cute..I called my daugher to come over and look at it...she said mom...it is a peice of debris...It is NOT a peice of debris...Can anyone help me...I took the best picture I could take. The only thing I can figure is whatever it is came out of a piece of one of my rocks. Thanks for your help. Connie

[e_baer]

get rid of it! its a small hitchhiking anemone called aptasia. it will reprodujce quickly and take over. it stings other corals ans will kill them! kill it! get a razor blade and scrape it off the glass COMPLETELY and throw it in the toilet.

[connieyvonne]

Thank you for your reply.... I can't believe I was excited about something that would kill my coral I would like to have one day!!! It is gone....I did as you said and flushed it down the toliet. I looked for any other the best I could and didn't see any, but they are so small I wouldn't see them on the rocks. .....Now I am scared to add any coral to the tank in fear that these aptasia things will kill them. Is there any way to get rid of them? Again...thank you SO MUCH for your help.

[Joan]

It came on my live rock. I suggest that you wait just a little bit longer. I notice some time later after I got rid of mine that it had already spread. it is hard to see them when they are small. Peppermint shrimp was suggested to me to take care of it

[e_baer]

yes peppermint shrimp are good at getting rid of aptasia. threre are also some fish, cant think of any off the top of my head though. il get back to you and tll you what kinds east aptsia. i know a copperband butterfly does, but they are difficult to tske care of and not always reef safe.

[mtfabel]

Aiptasia are a bad thing. They will indeed kill corals, but only if it touches them. Peppermint shrimp are one way to rid you of the smaller ones. And yes copperbanded butterflies have been known to eat larger ones but that is not a garantee. There is a butterfly they will eat them for sure, only problem is that is all that it eats so if you cant supply it with more it will starve do death. Aiptasia is and will probably be one of the biggest battles for most aquariums. Dont worry to much though it can be controlled. If you google "controlling aiptasia" you will get lots of useful things to try.

[glampka]

There are numerous things you can do to kill them off. Peppermint shrimp are a good natural way of controlling them. Joe's Juice is sold to kill them off. You can also inject them with kalkwasser or boiling water.

[e_baer]

i know you can get a suringe(sp?) and fill it wiht lemon juice andsqueeze a little juice into ever anemone you see and it will kill them. but sometimes it might be hard to find them after they shrivel up.

[jgo1973]

Oh my gosh!
I just saw this in my tank over a week ago and was so excited!!! I thought it was something cool. I will get them out asap. Thanks for the info everyone...wow, learn something new everyday!

[mtfabel]

When trying to get rid of them be careful not to break them cause that really causes them to spread.

[lynnvangsnes]

Here is some info:Impressions of Methods to Eliminate Pest Anemones
You gotta get that outa there.

[kh6sat]

I might have some of these growing in my overflow??