it's not aiptasia (I hope)...

[foobuddha]

About two weeks ago I noticed some new polyps on one of my rocks. It was a little group of ~4 tiny polyps - about the size of the head of a pin. I've been keeping an eye on them, but they are so tiny, pics showed nothing. Well about 10 days ago I noticed another 'colony' 3 or 4 of the same polyps on a different rock - these were bigger so I tried to get some pix last week. As of last night, there are about a 1/2 dozen of these 'colonies'.

I've been concerned that they might be some type of aiptasiaish anemone. However, they differ distinctly from the aiptasia I'm familiar with (and grow in the 2.5 gallon). From the first sighting I could see that the feeders were finer and shorter than aiptasia, the head/disc was flatter and more circular, and the trunks are more uniform in size and smaller than aiptasia. Also, these guys seem to be growing like individuals on a sea mat.

At one point I've had yellow polyps in the tank, so I suspected parazoanthus, but they aren't yellow and the feeders appear to be finer. I also suspected more zooanthids, but they usually seem to just release a polyp and let it float till it finds a new home and starts spreading, whereas these seem to be just popping up.

I wasn't sure at first if they might be feather dusters, but they don't tend to retract when a fish swims by as all the others do.

This is the best I could do for pics, there are two visible here, two more are hidden, I am not expecting much as the pics aren't that great.

[foobuddha]

for scale

[foobuddha]

I do this all the time in emails:

email 1 "Here's the attachment"
email 2 "Oops, I forgot to attach..."

[Big Dave]

If you are talking about the burgandy shades in the pic, I think they are feather dusters. I have recently noticed a bunch of burgandy dusters starting to pop up in my tank. When I get home tonight I will post a pic of them. I have never seen any this color so I hope I don't have some sort of plague of feather dusters! HTH

-Big Dave

PS - If anyone has these burgandy dusters put my mind at ease and tell me it will be ok. Or, worst case, tell me to get rid of them ASAP! Thanks!

[Junkzoo]

FB, kinda hard to see good enuf to tell,,,,how long are the tentacles? is the entire thing about the same color?or is the center of the body a different color?does it fully retract if you disturb it? (aips)
if it does not retract say, back into it's hole, it might be "majano"(sp) anems,,,,not as bad as aips, but a pain none the less
if it is ID'ed as a baddy, i've had decent luck with a syringe filled with hot kalc paste, just inject the body.just do it slowly and over time , you do not what to throw your water chemistry off by using too much Kalc,,,,

a better ID of it might help us put a name to the lil buggers
(it still could be a good polyp starting out)
let's see what the other TRT'ers have to say b4 you start nuke'in
them,,,,

[foobuddha]

Big Dave,

My first inclination was feather dusters, but the tentacles aren't as fine, and they don't retract like worms do. However, I do have several burgandy dusters, both the fan shaped and conical duster shape. Neither gets very large, the fans about 1/2 cm, the dusters about 1 cm diam.

JunkZoo,

The tentacles are between 1/4 and 1/2 the overall body length (from rock to tip). I've never seen them completely retract, tho they will contract tentacles a bit, just not all the way into the trunk like a feather duster, or all the way into the rock like an aiptasia. The center disc is a different color, closer to the zooanthids you can see on the left hand side of the scale pic though the tentacles are finer than the zoo's.

I don't believe it's majano either as all the pics I've seen of majano show them as lying flat on the surface of the rock (like a button) with coarser tentacles.

One clue to consider is how they are appearing - in small colonies of 3 to 6 individuals. I am pretty sure I saw the individuals connected by a mat so I'm really hoping it's just zoo's (or the like) populating at a rapid rate, but as I said, I've never seen them spontaneously popup like this, usually I see a larger well defined polyp free floating, or already attached to a different rock.

They are appearing at a rapid rate, so I would like to find out if they are indeed a nuisance (syringe in hand).

fwiw, here is a pic or known aiptasia in my 2.5 gallon. It is very hard to tell but the disc on the mystery guys is much more circular and well defined than on these anemones, and the tentacles are all uniform in length.

[chewie]

Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like it could be a Hydroid.

Big Dave, Do yours look like this

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...&postid=558978

[MontanaRocknReefer]

By the last pic it looks like this which is Aiptasia:

[Big Dave]

Hey Jon-
Well, sort of like that pic. Mine are a different color, BUT, it could be the pic is off, lighting in the tank, or just a different variety of those. Are those hydroids? or just some type of duster? I will have to do some closer inspecting when I get home. I believe mine have a tube like a normal duster does, but I could be wrong. I will definitely post a pic later tonight. They have sprung up in a couple different spots in the tank, not really being close to each other. Like Foo's, there are only 5-10 polyps in each patch of these. I will also try the touch test and see how they react.

[foobuddha]

Johnny,

The last pic is _definitely_ aiptasia, but in my 2.5 G (the aiptasia tank - I purposely left the first aiptasia in that one just to watch them grow...), not the main tank.

Chewie,

Hydroids look like a possibility, but I'm afraid they are still too small to tell.

Looks like I'll have to continue to 'wait and see'

[amateureefer]

Well, I don't think it will be any consolation, but I have also noticed the exact thing you've described popping up in numerous places in my tank. They are definitely not aiptasia (sp?), or at least any kind I've ever seen, and are a brownish/reddish color. They resemble really small polyps, but I've never had any polyps of this sort in my tank. Well, any help will be appreciated and hope it helps to know you're not alone.

[chewie]

Dave,

Yep I have hydroids but not in my main tank though. In another tank. The only way I found out I had is when my Clavularia(clove polyps) started to wither away. Guess what covers that rock now?

Mine don't look like the ones I posted but I'm pretty sure they're hydroids.

Fooboodha,

Search RC for Hydroids in Dr. Rons forum, That's where I found that pic. There is a plethora of other pictures that may help you.

Good Luck all!!!

Jon

[foobuddha]

Thanks for the empathy amateur! I think the differences out weigh the similarities to aiptasia.

I did some searching for hydroid pics and found this one. The color is wrong, but the body structure is really close.

Found the pic at www.reefimages.com/Anemone/Anemone3.html

[Brooke]

I vote for hydroids. It looks like the kind with the hard tube "trunk". Those, in my experience, dont spread as fast as the ones without the hard "trunks". Kalk paste will kill them..temporarily. We really need a better pic (i know its hard) to be sure, but the color and shape say hydroid to me.

HTH-
Brooke

[Big Dave]

Ok guys, this is my version. Not sure if this is the same as yours Foo but take a look.

This first pic has almost a perfect color match. The second pic has better detail but the color was a little off. Here's the first pic...