Please Identify

Drewsta · 01/04/2014, 09:37 PM

You can see the clear looking feather duster / anemone? I am curious if anyone knows what it is and is it bad for the Zoas? Thanks!

As you can see in the picture I have circled the "thing" in question.

devimik · 01/04/2014, 11:04 PM

Looks like a ball anemone or a strawberry anemone.

Mazzy · 01/05/2014, 06:35 AM

I can't be sure, but I'd look at ID pics of hydroids just to eliminate that possibility. They eat zoas. I got some from a new piece of rock I was putting in a cycling tank. Luckily for me there was nothing in the tank yet AND I was buying my rock one at a time (with this only being the second rock) so it was easy to take that rock out and then hand-removed the little hydroids I would see sticking to the glass. I also removed my sand, let it sit unheated and uncirculated in a bucket for a week, and basically started over with the cycling because everything I read said they were impossible to get rid of once they take hold. Since I had nothing in the tank I feel like I starved them out

though who knows.. it could have just as easily been the manual removal every time I saw one (and I was on a serious mission, turning the lights on every couple hours to grab any that I saw). In an established tank they could be a real problem though so I'd research those ID pics and make a decision about how you're going to deal with it post haste if you end up thinking that's what it is.

**maybe it's not that they "eat" the zoas, maybe that's just their preferred habitat; it's hard to remember now. But I can tell you that in my research I found that zoas were the prime target (regardless if it was for eating or stinging or what) of hydroids.

**PSS - ALL hydroids, regardless of type, have two stages: the medusa stage, when they are free floating and tend to 'stick' to the glass, and then the colonizing stage where they set up shop permanently on your rock work. So, I suppose one easy way to tell if it IS a hydroid would be to look for teeny tiny little 'upside down anemone' looking things on your glass when you turn on your lights. I found they detached pretty quickly after I turned on the light so be ready to really scan that glass as soon as you hit the lights, and they are VERY small; look for the tentacle-side sticking to the glass with a little rod sticking out of the center. If, after several days?? or however long of searching you see nothing like that on the glass then this would NOT be a hydroid because the 'babies' have to go through that medusa-stage before the colonizing stage (and like all pests they are prolific so you'd be bound to see 'babies' sooner than later) so you should see at least some of the free-floating ones somewhere in the tank from the colony one (if that's what it is) that's living in your zoa now reproducing.

ReeferKimberly · 01/05/2014, 07:43 AM

ball nem +1

They have not been shown to be a problem for many, as they tend to just stay in the shade and don't get big or move around very much but they can be an irritant if in the middle of zoas like that.

01/04/2014, 11:04 PM	#2
devimik Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: KC, KS Posts: 637	Looks like a ball anemone or a strawberry anemone. __________________ Mike D Coral Beauty, Green Filefish, One Spot Foxface, Springeri Dottyback, 2 Ocellaris Clowns, Yellow Watchman Goby, Flame Hawkfish, Spotted Mandarin Current Tank Info: 90g Softie Reef, 150# live rock, 30g sump w/refugium, Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO, Octopus NWB 150 Skimmer, Mag 950 return, Maxspect 120w Razor 10K LED light X2, BRS Phosphate Reactor; Apex Lite

01/05/2014, 06:35 AM	#3
Mazzy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Michigan! GO BLUE!! Posts: 172	I can't be sure, but I'd look at ID pics of hydroids just to eliminate that possibility. They eat zoas. I got some from a new piece of rock I was putting in a cycling tank. Luckily for me there was nothing in the tank yet AND I was buying my rock one at a time (with this only being the second rock) so it was easy to take that rock out and then hand-removed the little hydroids I would see sticking to the glass. I also removed my sand, let it sit unheated and uncirculated in a bucket for a week, and basically started over with the cycling because everything I read said they were impossible to get rid of once they take hold. Since I had nothing in the tank I feel like I starved them out though who knows.. it could have just as easily been the manual removal every time I saw one (and I was on a serious mission, turning the lights on every couple hours to grab any that I saw). In an established tank they could be a real problem though so I'd research those ID pics and make a decision about how you're going to deal with it post haste if you end up thinking that's what it is. maybe it's not that they "eat" the zoas, maybe that's just their preferred habitat; it's hard to remember now. But I can tell you that in my research I found that zoas were the prime target (regardless if it was for eating or stinging or what) of hydroids. PSS - ALL hydroids, regardless of type, have two stages: the medusa stage, when they are free floating and tend to 'stick' to the glass, and then the colonizing stage where they set up shop permanently on your rock work. So, I suppose one easy way to tell if it IS a hydroid would be to look for teeny tiny little 'upside down anemone' looking things on your glass when you turn on your lights. I found they detached pretty quickly after I turned on the light so be ready to really scan that glass as soon as you hit the lights, and they are VERY small; look for the tentacle-side sticking to the glass with a little rod sticking out of the center. If, after several days?? or however long of searching you see nothing like that on the glass then this would NOT be a hydroid because the 'babies' have to go through that medusa-stage before the colonizing stage (and like all pests they are prolific so you'd be bound to see 'babies' sooner than later) so you should see at least some of the free-floating ones somewhere in the tank from the colony one (if that's what it is) that's living in your zoa now reproducing. Last edited by Mazzy; 01/05/2014 at 06:44 AM.

01/05/2014, 07:43 AM	#4
ReeferKimberly Marley & Me Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Roseville, California Posts: 1,452	ball nem +1 They have not been shown to be a problem for many, as they tend to just stay in the shade and don't get big or move around very much but they can be an irritant if in the middle of zoas like that.