ricordia/anemone

[Reefer769]

ive got a bunch of these ricordia/anemone looking things in my tank. they already killed another one of my corals because they just keep spreading over anything. how do i control these? is hand picking them out the only way to get rid of them?

[charlie]

A good pic would help to ID what you are talking about.

[Reefer769]

i cant seem to make the picture small enough to fit...pretty dumb i know

[charlie]

Don't you have any software on your computer that will resize pics?

[Reefer769]

here it is... idk why it wouldnt let me upload a bigger picture, so this is the best i can do

[charlie]

Can you get the rocks they are on out of the tank?

[metalhead]

Hard to make anything out on that pic but it almost looks like some species of Rhodactis to me. That or some kind of mushroom. I've never seen Ricordea spread like that and the species I have are very slow growing, at least in my system. Either way though, to answer your question, if they are corals then yes... The only means of control that I know of is to "frag" or cut them out.

Another alternative would be to get some new live rock, season it, then swap that rock out for the rock that is causing you problems. That would make it much easier to frag the problem coral (you could just break the rock apart once removed) and eliminate the problem coral from you system once and for all. If you frag the rock w/o removing it from the system the pieces of coral left behind will probably grow back in short order.

On the bright side though, whatever it is you appear to have alot of it so once you frag it all out you may be able to sell it back to your LFS or local reefers after you frag and make some money or trade for other corals. IMHO too much coral growth is a very good problem to have especially when compared to the alternative. All that said you still need to ID it so try to get us a better pic if possible.

Hope this helps - Bob