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Found this creature during a water change... aiptasia or majano or ?

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Thursday as I was doing a quick water change I found a tentacled creature sitting on top of my first sump baffle glass.... looked like an aiptasia to me so I tried to suck it with the hose. It receded into the baffle and I lost it.

A few minutes later I saw it drifting submersed in the water on the other side of the baffles, close to the return pumps, stout and tentacles all spread open, like a spider. This time I took it out with plastic claws (didn't want to touch it).

I put it on a plate, to confirm what it was, but I'm a little puzzled. It sometimes looks like an aiptasia, sometimes like a majano (which I've never had in the tank, as far as I know, I'm guessing from pictures seen in the internet):




It is roughly 1cm or 1/2 inch across (measured with a ruler looking into the plate from above... crude measurement)

What do you think? When I concentrate a lot of light on it (using a magnifying glass) the tentacles light up in stripes, like an aiptasia's, but without that extra light they look uniform as in the pictures above.

I'm concerned if it is a majano, because if I found one in my sump that probably means there are more in the DT hidden somewhere....

Snorkeler

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Tags: aiptasia
Categories
Sump , ‎ Pest

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    Regardless what it is, it's good you got it out. I'm no sure what it is, but it does resemble a majano more than an aiptasia to me.
  2. snorkeler's Avatar
    I left it in the plate with saltwater and today it's looking more like an aiptasia because the tentacles are looking stripped. It is still quite short, but I guess it's because of the low water level in the plate.

    Intrigues me if it grew in the sump from assexual reproduction in the DT or if it released from rock when already grown up, drifted and ended up in the sump. Will never know....