Possible aptasia

[fatoldsun]

So I have a small rock (anout the size of a D battery) that was given to me with some metallic green palys on it about 5-6 weeks ago. Tonight I noticed a very small hitchhiker. Not sure what I have - I'll work on adding a pic but it doesn't translate well St least with my camera choices. I looks a little like an aptasia.
Do they multiply quickly?
I took the rock out to pull it off or look more closely and it retreated into a small hole (like a pore) in the rock. Does this sound like an aptasia. Otherwise it's about the size of a pencil point with some tentacle looking arms. And it's dark in color. Like I said a not so great pic to follow.

 

[steamman]

Always wanted to do this.

 

[curt]

I wouldn't wait to long finding out.
Take a look here. Might also be majano.
http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

 

[fatoldsun]

Always wanted to do this.

thanks a lot, Geez! i was hoping my description would rule it out - you know the part about it borrowing into the rock or taking 5 weeks to show itself - wishful thinking. it seems like anything I ever need help ID-ing turns out bad so no surprise I guess

here are the best pics I could get - not super clear but gives a sense of scale and maybe someone will recognize it and confirm or rule out

 

[taz_12777]

Aptasia. Since you can pull the rock out easy enough it should not be hard to take care of. Super glue gel or kalk paste over the hole. Keep an eye out to make sure no others pop up and you should be fine.

 

[steamman]

Aptasia. Since you can pull the rock out easy enough it should not be hard to take care of. Super glue gel or kalk paste over the hole. Keep an eye out to make sure no others pop up and you should be fine.

+1. That is why seeing a picture was helpful. Kalk paste never seems to work 100% for me. I would go the way of capping the hole with some kind of epoxy or super glue in your case. I hope you didn't take offense with my post. It was trying to have some fun with it.

 

[fatoldsun]

I hope you didn't take offense with my post. It was trying to have some fun with it.

Absolutely none taken – I guess that’s the risk of meeting sarcasm with sarcasm. Always something lost in the translation when it’s print

+1. That is why seeing a picture was helpful.

Anyway here are some better shots of the “thing”

In a dish…

I would go the way of capping the hole with some kind of epoxy or super glue in your case.

Ok, so the plan was to entomb this thing with some crazy glue gel and when I pulled the rock out I thought I’d inspect it more carefully. When I did I saw that it was either coming out of multiple holes in the rock or there were other things sharing the real estate, I used my thumb nail to see if I could get at it and the rock was quite soft. I guess it was a piece of coral skeleton so I just chipped the whole area off. Here it is after the surgery. The hole you see may have been connected as part of a tunnel but not the same hole…

Fingers are crossed that I got it all but it’s sitting somewhere where I can get to it easily if I need to pull it out again and I can see it well, Thanks for the help, sarcasm or not

 

[dastrader]

Nice job.

Keep that rock away from others for now and just keep an eye out for more. It there are, since it is easy to pull out the rock, take care of it out of the tank. Sometimes you have to try in the tank on rocks you can't get out and the spores of the Aptasia can spread easily if it is threatened. Hopefully you got it. Not too tough to take care if there are only a few but if they spread they can get out of control.

 

[steamman]

Now those are great pictures. Good luck and good looking out to catch it so small.

 

[bitewing]

Sounds like aptasia to me, I had it bad a while back. They spread very fast! Aptasia's tips are pointy and they are a light brown to brown in color. Buying a peppermint shrimp or two will get rid of them. You can also buy Aptasia-x at your lfs, works great.

 

[fatoldsun]

I had a peppermint shrimp. Did you ever see the movie "Funny Farm" with Chevy Chase? If you did you'd understand why I named it Yellow-Shrimp except at least the saw yellow dog a second time. The shrimp went in and poof. For my next trick, I'll make pure cash disappear. Oh wait, sorry that's the same trick...

Anyway, do far no sign of it but I keep staring at that hole in the rock and when I consider how tiny it was others could easily be lurking. Since the palys were a new frag I stare ag them intensely daily. Can't say every inch of LR gets the same level of attention.