Help to ID pest in my Zoa colony...

[aolson]

Hi everyone! Please help me identify the following pest in my Zoa colony. They are spreading very quickly. I tried to kill some off with AptasiaX, but that only slowed them down for a day or two and now there are more of them. They are starting to grow everywhere... What are they? I've circled them in the image below:

Thank you so much for your help!
Alan

 

[Peter T]

Do they resemble a button polyp? From the picture, it looks like they may be bleached zoas.

 

[mayjong]

paly?

 

[aolson]

Thanks for the help guys.

Peter / Mayjong, I believe you could be right... I think they might be button polyps. They are starting to grow everywhere.

They look like a bleached Zoa, but they are aggressive and eat, sting, grow and propagate like Majano / Aptasia. They look like the Zoa but have strong sticky stingers. They are starting to pop up everywhere.

If they are button polyps, what's the best way to get rid of them? I already pulled a couple of rocks out that became covered with them in just a couple of weeks.

Thanks again!

 

[SushiGirl]

They almost look like some kind of polyp to me, but it's hard to tell from that pic. Look up colonial hydroids & see if that's it.

 

[Peter T]

Oh sorry for the confusion, a button polyp is a common term to refer to zoanthids. I meant that it was just possibly zoas that have lost their color and were bleached. They still do spread even when bleached like that. If you want to get rid of them, I would suggest cutting them off or try putting super glue gel on them so that they can dissolve (run carbon if you do so).

 

[Friday Night]

See if you see anything from the lineup
http://www.coralpedia.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

 

[MelloW33]

You could mix up some kalk paste and squirt a tiny amount into the mouth of the polyps, much like you kill off aptaisia.