???

[Clyde]

After a water change on my 10 gallon tank I saw, what looked like a 2-3cm piece of stringy slime(clear to brownish) . When I tried to get it out with my 12 inch forceps it retracted into a rock. It did not look like my normal serpent stars I have. Any ideas?

[GaryL]

it could be a worm in the rock...most likely good(detrits eating hitch-hiker) ..the new water might have got its senses going, some have two "slimy" things that come out to catch food..... also there are peanut worms that will lay out slime "webs" to catch food in also then they eat them back in as the food gets trapt on it.

Edited August 31, 2008 by GaryL

[Clyde]

I have a couple of those but this not slime. It retracted fast.

[reefmontalvo]

Have you tried to wait until the lights are off then get out a red light and check things out. You will be suprised what you see.

[Clyde]

I hate to say it but I think my critter is an Aiptasia Anemone. The only thing is, do they host in a hole in a rock? If I touch it with my forceps it completely retracts into a tiny hole in the rock. ????????????

I have not got anything new in my tank in a long time. Rock is the same from when I started the tank 8 months ago.

If it is Aiptasia how do I get rid of it?

[Coral Hind]

There are several ways to get rid of them.

 

This is usually what I do. If the rock is really small you can remove the rock and just let it dry out for a week and put it back in the tank. You can break off the part where the aiptasia is and let that part dry out. I have used reef epoxy putty to plug the hole and seal them in too.

 

There are several fish and shirmp that also eat aiptasia but be careful as they may also eat certain things you wish to keep.

 

You can also use several new products that kill aiptasia in the tank like Joe's Juice, Aiptasia Control by Blue Life and Aiptasia-X. See this WAMAS thread for some video links and details on Aiptasia-X.

[Clyde]

Can I use my two part coral apoxy clay to fill in the hole?

[Coral Hind]

Yes, that is what I have used.

[Clyde]

So, it was aipstasia that I had. I plugged it up and hopefully it doesn't have a alternate route out. Thanks for the help.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Clyde

[Clyde]

So, it was aipstasia that I had. I plugged it up and hopefully it doesn't have a alternate route out. Thanks for the help.

That's right I quoted myself! So it found another way out of the rock

I would like to use one of the products out there but the "body" of the thing is in the rock> I only see tentacles.

Edited September 2, 2008 by Clyde

[Origami]

Can you get to it with a syringe and needle? If so, you can inject Joe's Juice, Kalk paste, lemon juice or vinegar into the body of it and do it in that way.

[Clyde]

That's right I quoted myself! So it found another way out of the rock

I would like to use one of the products out there but the "body" of the thing is in the rock> I only see tentacles.

See the problem?

[quazi]

See the problem?

 

It does not sound like aipstasia. It sounds more like a spaghetti worm. They live in sand and holes in rocks. They stick their tentacles out to troll for food. They are wonderful critters.

 

Look at this picture:

 

article on spaghetti worms: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/rs/index.php

 

Of course, if this is not what the critter looks like, maybe it looks like this:

 

 

[Clyde]

This looks like what I have. But it seems to have pissed off the corals that are next to it. Can these worms be harmful to other livestock?

[quazi]

I used to have tons of them. THey did not seem to upset their neighbors. I do not have them anymore. I always liked them.

 

If anyone in the Sterling/Reston area has them in their sand bed, let me know. I would like to get a cup o' sand to get them back in my tank.

[reefmontalvo]

Go to Sterling Silver Scuba dive shop. They must have about 1,000 of them in the sand. For some reason the guy has tons of spaghetti worms. And huge aptasia, to the point were he is thinking about using them as a form of filtration in the sump.