Help I.D. Please
 

I need help on identifying this life form.

I hope it isnt what it is.... an Aiptasia.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7...044f97a557.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7...be415ae342.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7...08d3705640.jpg

If it is, how would I go about killing and removing it?

Peppermint Shrimp? Where would be the best place to acquire these?

Thanks!

Aiptasia

Yup... sorry for the grim diagnoses... :mrgreen:

Aiptasia is hardly a grim diagnosis! Everyone has it or has had it at one time or another. If it only one polyp then remove that rock and then eradicate it outside the tank. If you zap it while it is in the water you risk spreading it everywhere.

I got two peppermint shrimp and they didn't really help. I had one rock that had about two dozen little ones on it, the shrimp wouldn't go near that rock at all, so I removed the rock, put in in a clear glass bowl with enough water to cover it and a bubble stone, and used some aiptasia destroyer and zapped them with that. (I set up a bright light over it so I'd be able to see them really good - after about a half hour I rotated the rock, let it sit so the aiptasia were "calm" then zapped them) I left the rock in the bowl for a day and a half after I treated it, checking it often for any that I may have missed. Then I rinsed it in fresh SW then placed it back in my tank - all the dead aiptasia fell off in the fresh SW. It's been two weeks and so far - no more have been seen in my tank!

So what harm exactly do Aiptasia cause? I'm new to this, 8 months into the hobby and I don't think I've seen any in my tank but just in case so I know what I'm dealing with... Why are they a nuisance?

They spread quickly and will sting other corals.