View Full Version : Need some help making am identification please
Melissa96
03/05/2015, 11:35 PM
I will post a picture but my husband brought home this pretty purple star shaped whatever this is..I was wondering if someone can tell me what it is lol and my second question is while I was feeding one of my corals today I noticed a brown star shaped thing that was almost exactly the same shape as the purple ones except it is by itself and it was attached to a piece of dead rock ..if I poked at it it retracted into a little tube I guess. Can someone tell me what that is using my horrible description? Lol
kayraw
03/06/2015, 12:41 AM
Purple one is Pulsing xenia. Brown one sounds like aiptasia you should remove the aiptasia before it causes a problem in your tank.
hotelbravo
03/06/2015, 03:00 AM
Poking it isnt the best idea. Messing with one Aptaisa is how you get one hundred Aptaisa. Just leave it alone until you have an attack plan such as chemical attack (Aptaisa X), removing rock from tank and using a chisel top break off the part of the rock the Aptaisa is one, or removing the rock and squirting boiling water on that part of the rock with the aptaisa on it. Theres a few different suggestions but poking it is the last thing you should be doing to anything your unsure of
CuzzA
03/06/2015, 06:20 AM
If you gently touch it and it goes into a "tube" it's likely just a harmless feather duster, if it lays flat, like it almost disappears then it's probably Aiptasia and needs to be killed. Using harsh language while killing it doesn't help, but may give you some personal satisfaction. It does for me anyways. ;)
billdogg
03/06/2015, 09:30 AM
Using harsh language while killing it doesn't help, but may give you some personal satisfaction. It does for me anyways. ;)
LOL
If it is an aiptasia, it does need to be destroyed. No need to remove the rock - just use a syringe and boiling water to kill it in place. As for the xenia - keeping it isolated from the rest of the reef is a pretty good idea - it can quickly get out of control and cover everything. A separate island of rubble rock works great - as it spreads to the other rocks you can usually trade it to another reefer or even back to the LFS for credit
FraggledRock
03/06/2015, 09:33 AM
peppermint shrimp also get aptasia. i never seen any ever again after i got a few peppermint shrimps.
the purple is pulsing Xenia. they grow fast (relative to coral growth)
The picture is xenia a popular coral .
Melissa96
03/06/2015, 11:24 AM
Thanks guys... BTW I was able to take a picture of the brown thing..I looked up aptaisias and they look different than what I'm seeing..I took a picture of it and will post it below. It is located under the white stump you will see the brown star. It seems to have 7 "arms" where as aptaisia appears to have more than 7. At night it seems to kind of retract in its own little tube of some sort, similar to the xenia. Could this be a brown species of xenia or a brown star polyp or something?
sherief.elsayed
03/06/2015, 11:50 AM
I will post a picture but my husband brought home this pretty purple star shaped whatever this is..I was wondering if someone can tell me what it is lol and my second question is while I was feeding one of my corals today I noticed a brown star shaped thing that was almost exactly the same shape as the purple ones except it is by itself and it was attached to a piece of dead rock ..if I poked at it it retracted into a little tube I guess. Can someone tell me what that is using my horrible description? Lol
They do get out of hand quick as far as Xenia are concerned. Pretty to look at but spreads like hell. When I see a break off or it goes to spot in the tank I usually throw it on a frag and trade it in at the LFS
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/06/c69044c1457fe86dfe2b0450a48b1bd4.jpg
cloak
03/06/2015, 12:10 PM
Thanks guys... BTW I was able to take a picture of the brown thing..I looked up aptaisias and they look different than what I'm seeing..I took a picture of it and will post it below. It is located under the white stump you will see the brown star. It seems to have 7 "arms" where as aptaisia appears to have more than 7. At night it seems to kind of retract in its own little tube of some sort, similar to the xenia. Could this be a brown species of xenia or a brown star polyp or something?
Clavularia?
Melissa96
03/06/2015, 01:15 PM
That's it! It's clavularia thank you lol
vBulletin® v3.8.4, Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.