What are these?

[jimbracco]

alt="" />The age old question...what are these hitchikers?
they are anenomes of sometype that came with some coral and are proliferating..

 

[burdundi]

Aiptasia. Get rid of it. You can use kalk paste and inject them with a syringe (Joe's Juice is the commercial version) or peppermint shrimp have worked for me. Some people don't have luck with peppermint shrimp, but they have always worked for me.

-Andy

 

[jimbracco]

Ah, kinda figured so...besides obvious stinging capabilities, do they release anything into the water that could effect other corals?
or better question is , why get rid of them, besides they are not really attractive:boo:

 

[jimbracco]

how about these orange hard "corals" growing from what is actualy the top half of an old oyster shell.....

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[xyzpdq0121]

^^^^ Picture is too hard to tell there.. Could be alot of things,: coral, sponge. etc... need a better picture.

 

[jimbracco]

how about this:

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[burdundi]

Aiptasia will get our of control and could kill other corals when they touch them.

Here is a link about them:

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/aiptasia.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/id/aiptasia.html</a>

-Andy


On the other coral, it looks like a sponge, but it is hard to tell with that pic.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

That second pic looks like a Millepora coral- AKA- fire coral. Does it burn if you touch it? It regularly comes in on live rock. Tell me more about it, maybe we can definitively ID it.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ya looks like a yellow sponge to me... Good hitch hiker to have. Aiptasia on the other hand is not. They do not hurt most things except some corals. They look ugly. Some people keep them, most people kill them off. The choice is yours.

 

[vettesarebest]

Fire coral will burn you and it will really hurt. But I do not think it is one.

 

[jimbracco]

so is my only test to touch the thing??

 

[zman676]

look really close and see if you can see lots of small pores on the surface. this is where the name millepora comes from.

p.s.--> dont touch it. it will hurt for a good while.

p.p.s.--> Hi, I'm Zach.

 

[zman676]

oh yeah, and if you look really close, you can sometmes see little hair-like projections coming out of the pores.

 

[jimbracco]

Yup,
never noticed it before but yes there are little tiny "hairs" all over these...
I wonder if someone would want these instead of just plucking them out...
thanks guys!

 

[gmanjeep]

As Far as your aptasia,You DONT want it in your tank.It will spread over everything,and kill all your corals.Very hard to get rif of at that point.

 

[jimbracco]

oh yeh, i mean the fire corals..not the aiptasia

 

[zman676]

If i remember correctly, I think fire coral is actually an endangered species. I'm sure some collector will take it off your hands ($$$) if he/she is brave enough to risk the painful sting. I don't know what the rules are for selling endangered species in the US but its not like you yanked them out of the ocean.

I googled and found this site which might be helpful
http://www.arkive.org/coral/Coral/millepora_intro.html">http://www.arkive.org/coral/Coral/millepora_intro.html</a>

If all else fails, you can frag it and play some painful pranks on people. But wear latex gloves if you plan on handling them. :)

 

[jimbracco]

I like the way you think

FIRE SALE , or fire coral sale that is....

 

[tsciarini]

I agree with jmaneyapanda... it has the characteristic look of a fire coral.
If you don't want it... I will gladly take it.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

The second pic could be Fire coral, but it also looks like Minabea aldersladei</em> to me. Minabea aldersladei</em> is a type of Leather coral. It could also be yellow Distichopora violacea</em> (a type of fire) or some other Stylasterina</em>. Touch it, see if it hurts!