Anemones Run Rampant!

[mouserusker]

There were three kinds of little anemones in my tank when it was given to me. At the time, I was glad that anything was alive, so even though I was told that they were pest anemones, I left them alone. I did have two or three Aptaisia, and I zapped them with some white goop from the LFS, and added a peppermint shrimp. Never saw another one.

Now, the other two kinds of nems are getting out of control. One kind is Majeno or Tulip, I think; it is green with pink tips and about an inch across.
The other kind is much smaller. I've never seen one bigger than a quarter inch across (and I see lots of them...) They are a lighter green, without the pink tips.
Both need to go. I've tried injecting them with boiling water. It didn't work. I injected one tulip anemone with .5cc of boiling water three times in a row. He was literally bursting from the mouth with boiling water. I can see the three holes where I injected him. I can see them clearly, as he is open and as happy as ever.
The Aiptaisia Control (white goop) works, but totally nukes everything it touches. I don't like putting it in my reef, and certainly not on the scale I need.

Are there any reef critters that eat anemones, but not corals? I think I remember hearing about some sort of nudi that eats anemones.
What can I do to get rid of these pests? I've tried taking the rocks out and scraping the buggers off, but it's practically impossible to get them, as every single one seems to have its foot in a live-rock pore. These pics show some of the offending anemones.
The Majenos are in the foreground, and the unidentified little anemones are behind them and well, everywhere else.

 

[Arati]

this fish will eat majano
I have seen it. you may need a small army of them though ...

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

 

[cbr600rri]

wow, the green with pink tips sure look like a GBTA

btw, how big are the rocks? Are you able to remove them, the ones w/o corals and just either let them air dry (faster) or if you want to keep the rock "live", a bucket with no light, covered, etc will do the trick.

As for the ones with corals and IME, I find joe's juice works on majano/tulip. But the trick is to inject them directly in their mouth. If you're off but a bit, I find it'll just regrow. good luck!!

 

[Purple Penguins]

I was unaware that any fish ate majano, it was my understanding that you had to either manually remove them which could inturn make them mulitply from stress or kaulk them.. Arati do you have a link or anything to literature on this? Im very interested in reading up more on this

 

[mouserusker]

The rocks are medium sized, maybe 4 to 10 inches across. Some can come out, some cannot. Most have attached, photosynthetic corals. All of the rocks have other life that I want to preserve, as well, like various worms, feather dusters, bivalves, etc.

I'll try the Joe's, I suppose.
Can anyone help me identify the little green ones? Are they a kind of Aiptsaia?

 

[aanntthhoonnyy]

Aiptasia.


You are probably gonna nuke your tank with the amount of kalk it will take to kill all those aiptasia and Maj.

You have quite a battle ahead of you. if i was you I'd make a seperate qt tank and kill the Bad nems one rock at a time until you've done them all.


Even after all that I'm sure you will still have some that hide well.

Maybe look into small cbb and an army of pep shrimp.

Good luck and god's speed.

 

[LiveRound69]

i use aiptasia x from red sea,...it comes with a much better applicator than joe's juice does, also comes with MORE PRODUCT and the kit that has the applicator has these stainless steel needles which one needle is straight and one has a slight curve to it,..making much easier application of the product to anemone's in hard to get to areas on live rocks. This stuff works different than joe's juice..while joe's is a mixture that ive heard overwhelms the anemone with kalk like substance, aiptasia x has the ability to GLUE the mouth of the nasty anemone shut and thus eliminating the possibility of its releasing its planula into the water column when it detects its in danger. JOE'S JUICE does not does this ..ive used Joe's time and time again with some success but always had repeat offenders show up and then i noticed they always exploded and i had to clean them up. yuck..and then i started using the aiptasia x and noticed the anemones IMPLODE onto themselves and dont go flying into pieces like they did before..this stuff is pretty cool ...does cost alil more ..but hey...it works.. Just my two cents

 

[Arati]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14727340#post14727340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Purple Penguins
I was unaware that any fish ate majano, it was my understanding that you had to either manually remove them which could inturn make them mulitply from stress or kaulk them.. Arati do you have a link or anything to literature on this? Im very interested in reading up more on this

I am sorry I dont have any science for it. I learned it from a fellow reefer. I can tell you these guys are not really reef safe and cannot be netted.

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/999/Bristletail-Filefish/

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/fish/41321-bristle-tail-filefish.html

best I can do, try google .

 

[mouserusker]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm sorry for having to ask, but what is a "cbb"?
What would an army of peps be in a 20h? Five, total? I've had one for quite some, but I've never seen him touch the nems I have. (That doesn't mean that it's not happening. I've just never seen it.)
There is no such thing as an LFS where I live, so any remedy will have to be purchased over the internet.

ugh.

 

[traveller7]

CBB = Copper Banded Butterfly

fwiw: Not sure anything short of moving the rock to a longterm freshwater or sunlight bath is going to work; emphasis on longterm.

 

[GSMguy]

Scott thats what i had to do to get rid of them, 4 months with no light and i still had a couple come back.

 

[mouserusker]

oh my.

Doesn't that amount of time in dark, freshwater kill all of the coralline algae? And the peanut worms and little starfish? And the little feather dusters and bivalves attached to the rock? And what about the rocks with medium to large corals attached?

 

[GSMguy]

this method would be the least harmful to the microfauna on the rock, the feather dusters and bivalves are cryptic and do not require light, same with the worms and pods.'

other ways to kill them include, fire, bleach, boiling water, and buying new rock. all of which will kill off the critters more than cooking the rock.

your tank has been overtaken its only a matter of time until they kill all your corals and take over completely.

 

[JamesJR]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14729936#post14729936 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Arati
I am sorry I dont have any science for it. I learned it from a fellow reefer. I can tell you these guys are not really reef safe and cannot be netted.

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/999/Bristletail-Filefish/

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/fish/41321-bristle-tail-filefish.html

best I can do, try google .

There was an article by Scott W. michael in Marine fish and reefs annual magazine this year and he wrote that these fish would be pretty safe and consume the mejano anemones

 

[mouserusker]

Anybody have any experience with Berghia Nudis?

It almost seems too good to be true, but it makes sense. The little buggers aren't cheap, but neither is starting over with new rock.

 

[cbr600rri]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14727816#post14727816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mouserusker
All of the rocks have other life that I want to preserve, as well, like various worms, feather dusters, bivalves, etc.

I'm like you, I also like the rest of the inhabitants, besides fish/coral

btw, no experience with the berghia nudis, but I'm thinking once they start laying eggs, your aiptasias/majanos won't be the only problem

So how big are those green ones you mentioned?

And good luck with whatever you decide to do to eradicate them.

 

[Aerowen]

i had great success injecting them directly with vinegar with an insulin syringe- they let go of the rock and catch them on a net- they never came back either- it much better than destroying your aquascape!

 

[mouserusker]

All nudis eat ONLY a specific food. There are bad ones that eat sps. There are good ones that eat hair algae (and will starve without it). Then, apparently, there are nudis that eat only aiptasia. When they multiply and decimate my Aiptasia (hopefully), they will starve and die back.

The little green anemones seem to max out around 3/8 of an inch diameter of the pedal disc.

I have syringes and vinegar. I'll prolly try that. Does it cause the anemone to release it's clone cells? I've read that any physical or chemical attack will cause Aiptasias to relase a couple dozen tiny clones of themselves. Does the vinegar trick work on Mojenoes? (Not sure on the spelling, but I think that these are the slightly larger pink and green nems I have. Also pests.)
I'm pretty sure Berghias won't eat Mojenoes.

I put my reserve order in with berghia.net. The current stock is about 7 weeks out.
I really hope my tank lasts that long...

 

[Bennytheblenny]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14731795#post14731795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mouserusker
Anybody have any experience with Berghia Nudis?

It almost seems too good to be true, but it makes sense. The little buggers aren't cheap, but neither is starting over with new rock.

Berghias work, I have seen them clean up a 125g tank that was practically taken over by aptasia in a matter of weeks, however they do starve once the aptasia are gone. The problem is that they will NOT touch Mojanos and neither will Copper Bands or Peppermint shrimp (I have tried all three). There is a particular butterfly that will eat them, however it is 100% not reef safe. I have just used Kalk paste to blast them slowly, with pumps and powerheads off. The good news is they reproduce a lot slower than aptasia.

 

[mouserusker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14749461#post14749461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bennytheblenny
The good news is they reproduce a lot slower than aptasia.

And they are bigger, prettier, I have fewer of them, by far, than I do Aiptasia, and they can't pull all the way back into the rocks as well.

I'm glad to hear good news about the Berghias. I've heard, though, that it can take months, sometimes, before a major dent is made in the Aiptasia population. I still think it's my best (only) option. The price is killing me, though. It will be about $130 USD for what I'm considering to be a "starter colony" of 7 young adults (+shipping, etc). That is a major hit to my reefkeeping budget. Times are tough and all...

Also, what do you mean, exactly, by "kalk paste"? I just started dripping kalk to my reef, so I have literally 2 days experience with kalkwasser. Is the paste the sediment at the bottom?