I know i posted something about this a while back but its getting worse. My tank is now infested with these pesky small feather duster looking things. I have been using a toothbrush to scrub them off, and once i think i have them gone, they come back 2x fold! I heard that pepermint shrimp work, but the ones i ordered were really small and ended up in my overflow filter!! So i was wondering if anyone knows a fish, or maybe even a place i can get larger shrimp at? Open to all ideas! Thanks! Brandon

Google Aiptasia or glass anemone. Does it look like that? If it does then scrubbing it down only makes it worse. I've dealt with only a handful of them but from what I understand scrubbing them only makes it worse. They seem to be filled or they release spores into the water column when they die or are squeezed. The way I have had some pretty good sucess is using kalk paste to nuke them. In a coffee cup a microwave a small amount of water then add some kalk to it to make it a thick consistancy. I then use a small eye drop or somethign similar to hit the aiptasia quickly. The theory is that the hot kalk kills the aiptasia from the ph shock + it being realy hot. The kalk also forms a hard layer when it cools so that also helps. I know there are products out there that are decent, I just liked this way that I found googling and it seems to work and I haven't had any major outbreaks maybe just 1 or 2 when I add a new rock but I nip it in the butt as soon as I see them as to prevent them from spreading.

As for the animals that eat aiptasia I don't have much experience with them but I believe peppermint shrimp like to eat aiptasia. But have also read they may nip at some corals so not sure. Anyway good luck I know once it spreads it gets more difficult to get rid of them.

if it is aiptasia look at this site http://berghia.net/ post a pic if you can so we can id them

I have had great results with peppermint shrimp. Just make sure it is the species lysmata wurdemanni . Any of the good online retailers will have the right ones.

no its not aiptasia, and i have some apitasia x to control those guys. They look just like a small version of a feather duster. They have tubes that they suck back into, and have a feathery type head. Help at all??

here is a link to what they look like. It mentions something about wather quality, and mine is really good so it cant be that. And the forum is wrong, they did grow out of control!!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.livingreefs.com/attachments/1411d1234585294-feather-duster-worms-good-bad-272908101_bcfdbcc663.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.livingreefs.com/feather-duster-worms-good-bad-t17471.html&usg=__VLv7Mgs2OUvicCxDLWORP0SrhII=&h=391&w=500&sz=174&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=n58C-2XNG03i5M:&tbnh=102&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsalt%2Bwater%2Btank%2Bsmall%2Bfeather%2Bduster%2Bnuisance%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

I have had those pesky inverts also and my Copperband Butterfly thinks they are treats! I don't have any in my main display because of the CBB, but I still have them in my refugium. I don't like them either and they grow out of control.

Out of curiosity, why do you want to get rid of them? To my knowledge they don't bother anything?

To echo what Bela wrote, they don't bother anything, and they are actually beneficial in that they filter food particles and other organics from the water column. I have similar critters on some of my live rock and I think they look cool. They put the live in 'live rock'. Now if they multiply to plague proportions, then you have a nutrient issue.

I've seen Brandon's tank(actually I just came from his place just now) and they are definitely to nuisance proportions. I'm pretty positive they are called cluster dusters. I picked up a live rock from Emporium Pets when I first started my tank over a year ago. They were covering the rock pretty good. A few months after I had my tank going he started his and I gave him a few to add some life to the tank and they just took off. It's not that they are physically damaging the corals, they are just growing on EVERYTHING. They are even starting to grow on his corals. I too have a copperbanded butterfly and I no longer have any problems with aiptasia, never really had a "problem"with these feather dusters, plus the CBB looks awesome. So I too vote for Brandon to get a Copperband Butterfly!

Here's a link to what they are sold as:
Cluster Dusters

Ah ha! If they are the cluster type dusters, a brittle star fish will take care of them. I got a rock from emporium as well, and my brittle star erased them. Before I brought them home we looked up the specs to see if there were any compatibility issues. It mentioned that some serpent stars feed on them. I took a chance and it turned out my star really liked them. It's just a common black/striped brittle star. When it takes care of the dusters it will continue to be a handy tank cleaner.

Mine are small, white tubed and grow fast and dense. I am all into "good" hitchhikers but these are too plentiful and can grow and take over pretty quickly. I occasionally take a rock out of my refugium and put it in the display as a "treat" for my CBB. He cleans them up pretty darn fast!
On a side note, I used to have a couple of really nice large hawaiin feather dusters. He took care of those too : (
Since he got rid of all the aiptasia and those feather dusters, I couldn't complain.

Before I got my CBB my cluster dusters were pretty much gone. I never really remember seeing any before it was added to my tank, so I can't say with any certainty if mine eats the small feather dusters, but it doesn't eat my large Hawaiian feather duster. It did do a tremendous job on my aiptasia and doesn't touch any of the corals!

Also, I had a green brittle starfish and a harlequin(black/striped) serpent starfish that kept crawling over my anemones, sun coral, and other corals during feeding time so I gave Brandon those two stars. So if they do eat those cluster dusters, they aren't eating them fast enough! I still have a red brittle that only feeds at night, so maybe he's munching on them...

alright the decision is in to get a cbb... now anyone want to sell me theirs ;-)