I was looking in my tank today and noticed a small group of what I initially thought were small feather dusters on one of my live rocks that had been in there several months. There are 5-6 and the biggest is maybe an 1/8 of inch. They are kinda in the shadows which may be why I didn't see them sooner. I looked at the hitchhikers guide and now I don't know what I have.:unsure: Is there a good way to discern between aiptasia and dusters?
Aiptasia or feather duster?
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Are they sort of a rust-brown color? A month or two ago I searched the forums with the same problem and I'm still not certian what they are but I'm leaning towards some species of hydroids. Mine do come out of a little tube that they retract into but it's flexible and doesn't crack apart like a featherduster's tube. I tried to remove what I could but didn't get them all. So far they haven't spread but I'm keeping a very close eye on them.
Posting a pic would help. I've got hydroid and they do look like tiny brown feather dusters. They haven't spread and really don't seem to bother the zoas that are around them. I kill them with Joe's Juice whenever I see an aptasia or majano I want to get rid of. They don't look like most of the pictures I've seen for colonial hydroids but there are a lot of different species. In fact, I'll try and post a pic of what I've got and we can compare notes.
Here's a poor picture of a group of colonial hydroids living in my overflow chamber. Almost no light gets in here. I've NEVER (knock-wood) seen a single one in my display which is hammered with light so I think they may be light-intolerant (at least my variety). Easy to see why they are called "colonial"
There's also a fetaherduster right next to them for comparison.
There's also a fetaherduster right next to them for comparison.
That's what I've got. Mine are about the size of the feather duster and the "feather" part is dark rust colored. I've had them on a couple rocks but they went away. Now they are relegated to a single rock and I've gotten rid of some of them with Joe's. When I hit them with the juice all that's left is a little tube that looks exactly like yours.
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jase75;579818 wrote:>
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I hope this is clear enough for a verdict. If not, I will try to get another pic.
These definitely look like Aiptasia....Johnboy I have no idea what that is maybe Jenn could identify or Jpanda
Aptasia X & kalk paste work pretty well. I've got the same stuff in my tank and kalk works great. If they're hydroids (I think they are) then a peppermint shrimp won't touch them.
They look like yellow star polyps to me. Touch them, if the vanish VERY quick they are aptasia(kill). If they draw up and you can still see them,just without tenticals, and they are not in a hard tube, they may be star polyps(may become VERY plentiful but not harmful).
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