Saltwater Noob, question about Live Rock Hitchhiker

[VoiceInTheDeser]

First of all, Hi. I just signed up for the forum and look forward to poking around and learning all kinds of new things.

The reason I seek you out is that I recently went to a saltwater tank. I've been doing freshwater for years and years, but only recently started up in the marine environment, so I have very little experience and am trying to take everything slow.

I bought a setup from a guy in town that is a 55g tank with live rock and sand. I decided that since this is my first marine venture, I'm not going to do corals this time. Maybe when I have more experience and money, but it seemed like a bad starter tank.

So I brought the setup home, got it running, let it cycle and soon discovered the little guy in the attached picture below. He was quite small at first, and I took it as a sign that the tank was coming along nicely.

Fast forward to now (about 8 weeks later) and I'm adding fish (two clowns and a firefish for now) and he is the size you see in the picture. Somewhere around an inch from base to the end of his tentacles. I think I saw it snatch a piece of shrimp out of the current when I was feeding the clowns, so I think it's carnivorous?

So I was hoping you guys could tell me what it is? I seem to have two of this kind and several other, different looking (more feathery) ones on various rocks now. This is the only one I've observed having a taste for blood.

What I'm mainly worried about is if it's going to hurt my fish/hermit crabs or if any fish I'm thinking of adding (maybe a dwarf angel and a goby) would potentially harm it. The clowns and firefish seem completely disinterested, but I've seen the crabs approach it (but never touch it).

[namxas]

That would be an Aiptasia AKA glass anemone, and it is DEFINITELY a pest. Get rid of it before it can multiply! Not kidding here. You can kill it with kalk paste, or get some Joe's Juice, which is about the same stuff.

The feathery things you see are likely small fanworms.

Here's a link to a pictorial hitchhiker guide (http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml) that will help you ID the things that crop up in your tank.

[VoiceInTheDeser]

Thanks a ton for that link, that's really helpful.

Is there any kind of creature I can introduce that will eat it? Like I said, I think there's just 2 at the moment, so I could spot-treat it, but I'm always more inclined to take the biological approach to pests rather than the chemical one (puffers against snails, flagfish for algae in my freshwater tanks). I see a few people (in a few min of googling) suggesting peppermint shrimp.

This may not be the best policy in saltwater though, hence my inquiry.

Also, in the few minutes I've been reading from the link you gave me, I'm gathering that they basically just breed really fast and sting fish, causing stress. Is that about the jist of their negative effects? That's certainly enough for me, just curious.

[Allmost]

there is no 100% predator for aiptasia, that I know of.

but peppermint shrimps tend to eat them.


Do take care of it ASAP though, as these guys can take over your tank very fast.

Good luck :)

[ashtree68]

You can also use boiling water and a syringe, try pepermints if you can but as above there's not a 100% they will eat them. Get them out ASAP,

[namxas]

As Ashton mentioned, there are no 100% surefire appie preds, especially in a setup that gets fed. Many critters/fish that eat appies prefer other foods, and will 'go off' appies when fed. Additionally, most appie preds won't eat larger appies.

[VoiceInTheDeser]

I'll have to see what my LFS has in stock when I go after work today. If the shrimp are less likely to chomp on them while being fed, I'll probably grab one of the chemical treatments, assuming they have them.

It's too bad, cause I liked the little guy. I guess I still have the fanworms to keep the rock interesting...

[namxas]

You never know what you'll end up with as your tank matures, which is one of the really great things about LR...it's constantly changing.

What you can do, if that piece of LR isn't too big and since it appears to be on the top, is put it in a bucket of SW, add an open-ended airline, and a few peppermint shrimp to the bucket. If you don't feed them, they will take care of any appies in short order. After the appies are gone, you can add the peps to your tank as part of your CUC.

[Sitarangi]

Klein's Butterflyfish, their hardy and eat aiptasia.

[VoiceInTheDeser]

I dosed the little things with joe's juice and have introduced a shrimp to finish them off. Thanks for all the help guys.