Anemone or apitasia?

[whodeydan76]

I got this rock from garf.org with a purchase as it was included in my reef maint pack. I got 60 snails, 30 red leg hermit crabs (mini) a 5# bag of grunge plus and a 10# bag of grunge. I added all of this to my tank. I have slowly been adding equipment to my tank as I can afford it. Since I added all of this I added 3 powerheads, a new ATI t5 light system, a protein skimmer (reef octopus 150) once I added the skimmer I eliminated my canister filter from the mix. ( I plan to use the canister for circulating water for water changes and evaporation refills, with just phosphate additive and carbon filters)
My question is, is the growth on this corral apitasia or is it a glass anemone? I have done some research and found this listed as both???? :headwally: I just dont know if I have the start of an infestation or the growth of a cool anemone??? If it is apitasia I will be purchasing the red sea apitasia x to rid my tank of it.


P.s. I am attaching a pic of my tomato clown that was given to me by a friend. I am starting to see white spots on him... does this look like ich to you guys/gals? I kind of thought so.. If so I will be treating with nox ich... unless someone has a better treatment?

[Peter T]

Hello whoeyedan,

The first two pictures definitely look like beginnings of aiptasia to me. But to give you a heads up, aiptasia is a species of anemones. It is just most people do not like them because they can irritate the hell out of corals and can spread quickly given the right conditions.

Personally, I do not mind aiptasia in my tanks and leave them be, unless they are clearly irritating my corals. I then just use some kalkwasser paste and inject them with the paste using a syringe. I suggest you hold off on purchasing aiptasia x and buying some pickling lime and making the kalk paste. It will serve as a double function for you in case you ever want to use kalk water in your ATO.

[ken55]

I got this rock from garf.org with a purchase as it was included in my reef maint pack. I got 60 snails, 30 red leg hermit crabs (mini) a 5# bag of grunge plus and a 10# bag of grunge. I added all of this to my tank. I have slowly been adding equipment to my tank as I can afford it. Since I added all of this I added 3 powerheads, a new ATI t5 light system, a protein skimmer (reef octopus 150) once I added the skimmer I eliminated my canister filter from the mix. ( I plan to use the canister for circulating water for water changes and evaporation refills, with just phosphate additive and carbon filters)
My question is, is the growth on this corral apitasia or is it a glass anemone? I have done some research and found this listed as both???? :headwally: I just dont know if I have the start of an infestation or the growth of a cool anemone??? If it is apitasia I will be purchasing the red sea apitasia x to rid my tank of

P.s. I am attaching a pic of my tomato clown that was given to me by a friend. I am starting to see white spots on him... does this look like ich to you guys/gals? I kind of thought so.. If so I will be treating with nox ich... unless someone has a better treatment?

There are some stickys on ich treatment. I beleive the correct method is to get the clown out and into a Quarantine /Hospital tank for treatment and to leave your display fishless for several weeks. In this way you are fixing the problem instead of just treating it. And then treating it again. and again.

See the stickys for better details.

[whodeydan76]

I have read that the apitasia is an anemone... this is my first sw tank and it has only had water in it just under 6 weeks. I just dont want an invasive species that will keep other desirables from growing and flourishing. Thanks for the input.
About the ich.... I dont have a quarantine tank... So I assume my only option is to treat in the tank? I dont want to cause issues and create more of a hastle than is already present... should I buy a small quarintine tank? What is an ideal size? My main tank is a 75 gallon.

[Peter T]

I have read that the apitasia is an anemone... this is my first sw tank and it has only had water in it just under 6 weeks. I just dont want an invasive species that will keep other desirables from growing and flourishing. Thanks for the input.
About the ich.... I dont have a quarantine tank... So I assume my only option is to treat in the tank? I dont want to cause issues and create more of a hastle than is already present... should I buy a small quarintine tank? What is an ideal size? My main tank is a 75 gallon.

It is always a good idea to have a hospital/quarantine tank up and running. Or at least have all the equipment on hand to set one up quickly if needed. The size tank really depends on the type of fish you plan to purchase. If you plan to purchase only small fish or baby fish that grow to get large, a small 10g or 20 long will be sufficient. If you plan to purchase full grown fish or want to keep a hospital tank, a 40b would be a better bet.

[bnumair]

yes those pics are of aiptasia. u can inject it with lemon juice or kalk paste. i would take care of it now before it starts to spread.
second looks like ich.
like advised above and here on RC everyone will put a lot of influence on QT.

[Mariebaby21]

quarantine.... i had a complete tank wipe out because i didnt quarantine and it sounded like too much work (which its really not) and i lost everything. It's just a 20g with some pvc and 2 HOB filters and a heater. Super inexpensive and worth it if it means the health of an already established tank.
also, dont treat your clown in your display. It will kill your corals.

[Mariebaby21]

quarantine.... i had a complete tank wipe out because i didnt quarantine and it sounded like too much work (which its really not) and i lost everything. It's just a 20g with some pvc and 2 HOB filters and a heater. Super inexpensive and worth it if it means the health of an already established tank.
also, dont treat your clown in your display. It will kill your corals.

[Leena2674]

Get a quarantine set up. It's worth the extra money to have the equipment ready. You may have to hold off on purchasing a coral, or a fish if money is tight, but it is worthwhile in the long run. If you allow ich to take hold in your tank, you will likely spend as much on medication trying to treat it as you would setting up a QT tank in the first place. Remove the clown and treat it, allow your display tank to remain without fish until the ich is erradicated, and then QT each new fish you add before placing it in your display.

I've taken short cuts and been lucky, but I would be devestated if I introduced ich into my tank at this point.

[whodeydan76]

My issue with quaranteening (sp) the clown is he isnt the only fish in the tank. There is a diamond goby, 5 green chromies, a sand sifting star and numerous red leg mini hermits and various sized snails. Wouldnt I be better off to just flush the clown and then wait it out to see if the rest of the tank is infected? I dont have any plans of putting any other fish in there for at least a month as it is. I only got the clown because a buddy had him in his frag tank and he was downsizing the frag tank so the clown had to go... I assume the ich was there when I got him and now my other fish most likely have it??? perfect. I dont mean to sound cruel about flushing him, and I do plan on building a quaranteen tank before I add more fish..I just dont know what I should do with all of my other fish while the clown is being treated.

I dont have any corrals to speak of, just 3 rocks that I bought 2 like the one that has apitstacia on it. The only other corral hosting rock I have has a few green star polyps on it and I wouldnt be broken hearted if I lost that one. As it came from the same place the fish with ich came from.


About to just tear it down and say eff this whole sw thing anyway... frustrating as hell...Like being with my ex wife again lol

[Peter T]

My issue with quaranteening (sp) the clown is he isnt the only fish in the tank. There is a diamond goby, 5 green chromies, a sand sifting star and numerous red leg mini hermits and various sized snails. Wouldnt I be better off to just flush the clown and then wait it out to see if the rest of the tank is infected? I dont have any plans of putting any other fish in there for at least a month as it is. I only got the clown because a buddy had him in his frag tank and he was downsizing the frag tank so the clown had to go... I assume the ich was there when I got him and now my other fish most likely have it??? perfect. I dont mean to sound cruel about flushing him, and I do plan on building a quaranteen tank before I add more fish..I just dont know what I should do with all of my other fish while the clown is being treated.

I dont have any corrals to speak of, just 3 rocks that I bought 2 like the one that has apitstacia on it. The only other corral hosting rock I have has a few green star polyps on it and I wouldnt be broken hearted if I lost that one. As it came from the same place the fish with ich came from.


About to just tear it down and say eff this whole sw thing anyway... frustrating as hell...Like being with my ex wife again lol

Sadly, if your clown has ich, it most likely means the rest of your fish have it now. Your best bet would to be to treat all the fish. They may not manifest any infection signs because their immune system is strong. But in a closed environment, the chances of ich spreading from fish to fish is very high. Once your fish get stressed, you can almost be sure ich will rear its ugly head.

If you don't have any corals you are afraid or care about losing, you can always treat the ich in the main tank with hyposalinity. I don't suggest using any copper based treatment in your main tank. There are quite a few good threads here on how to treat with hyposalinity. I would just suggest you lower the salinity slowly in the main tank so you don't shock and kill all the bacteria and lose your biological filter in the tank. I am not sure if hyposalinity will kill the bacteria, but I wouldn't want to take the chances either. During this time, you can always set up a small tank to house your inverts and feed them so they don't starve to death.

[ken1977]

Aptasia for sure

[Mariebaby21]

You have to treat all the fish

[whodeydan76]

Ok thanks all. I realized my major problem with the tank is when I was adding for evap I was also adding salt. I was wondering why my salinity was 102.8... issue solved, I am slowly draining and refilling with water with the chlorine and silicates removed... Hoping that once I get the salinity under control it will make everything balance out. I am going tomorrow to pick up a 30 gal tank for my inverts so I can treat my whole tank. The only corral Ill lose is a few green star polyps and some feather dusters, but I am sure I can make up for those once i get my fish healthy.

Thanks again

[Mariebaby21]

you need to lower the salinity over the course of a week or more. it's way high and your fish and inverts will go into shock if you do it all at once. and when you set up your QT you need to match the temp and the salinity of your DT.

[Peter T]

Ok thanks all. I realized my major problem with the tank is when I was adding for evap I was also adding salt. I was wondering why my salinity was 102.8... issue solved, I am slowly draining and refilling with water with the chlorine and silicates removed... Hoping that once I get the salinity under control it will make everything balance out. I am going tomorrow to pick up a 30 gal tank for my inverts so I can treat my whole tank. The only corral Ill lose is a few green star polyps and some feather dusters, but I am sure I can make up for those once i get my fish healthy.

Thanks again

If possible, I suggest you start setting some money aside for a RO/DI filter for your tank. It will save you many headaches down the line. The RO/DI and protein skimmer are the two best investments I have made in this hobby. The RO/DI more so because I don't run a skimmer on my nano tank.

[nanito]

aptasia and ich is what you have

[whodeydan76]

Thanks again everyone. You are all a great help. Peter I already have a corrallife 250 skimmer and I am running a fluval 404 with no filter medium in it..(it is a double sided 4 basket filter) Only thing I have in it is biomax cylinders one basket in each side and one bag of carbon in each side to keep the water clear. So it really just circulates water.. the skimmer seems to pull alot of crap out of the water... but the biggest issue I have now is this brown algea growing and I notice it the most after water changes... when I add tap water. I just started a job at my local jacks aquarium and found that I can get ro water for .59 a gallon before my 30% discount.... premixed salt water is .89 a gallon before discount. I think for the time being I will be purchasing buckets of ro and sw from jacks until I can afford to get a ro/di system of my own.
I think once I do enough water changes and get enough rosw in there I will hopefully partially eliminate the silicates in tap water and rid my tank of this nastiness. I also found out that I can take my "sick" clown there and jacks has treatment tanks that I can put him in that have copper in the system that will help rid him of the ich he is struggling with! I am stoked about this as none of my other fish are showing any signs of it (I am gonna treat regardless) but once the fish is well I can even get store credit for the value that jacks places on him... and possibly replace him with a pair of perc clowns :) thats what I wanted when I bought the tomato clown anyway.