BTA Reproducing?

[FishDad2]

I know it will be difficult to comment without pictures but...

I suddenly have a bloom of little anemones all over my tank. My first reaction was aiptasia but these don't have the long slender tentacles I'm accustomed to seeing with aiptasia. Instead, the tentacles are shorter and have bulbs at the end...like a BTA.

As well, I've not seen an aiptasia in the tank since I first set it up 6 years ago. At that time I got some peppermint shrimp and I've not seen an aiptasia since. And since I've also not added any livestock to the tank in a few years now I don't know where they'd have come from after all this time.

Is it even possible that my BTA could be reproducing like this or is it more likely these are something else?

Pictures to come.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[tvrsir]

pics?

majano?

 

[MarinaP]

They are corynactis most likely

 

[FishDad2]

As I said, I'll have to take/post pics.

That said though, I think you hit it on the head with majano. The pics I see when I Google majano look an awful lot like what I'm seeing in the tank. I knew they couldn't be BTA's but I was hoping for better news.

No idea where they could have come from after all this time.

I believe filefish eat them but not peppermint shrimp...is that right? Which filefish do a good job?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I don't know that even a matted filefish eats majano. And they do have a lot of pretty BAD habits. Here is an example:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

 

[FishDad2]

I don't mind that they might nip at corals since I'm transforming this to fish-only setup. The real question is whether or not they will control majano. LiveAquaria doesn't note majano's as being part of the matted filefish diet but there are other posts claiming it does eat them.

In the end I need a viable solution and from everything I've read they're all but impossible to remove manually so a predator is required.

I'm open to suggestions.

 

[FishDad2]

Here are the pics as promised.

I believe these to be majano...agree/disagree?

Anyone have predator based solutions?

 

[Anemone]

Yep, definitely majanos! They don't spread as quickly as aiptasia, and are pretty susceptible to kalk paste or direct injections of microwave heated calcium additive.

Kevin

 

[Anemone]

Oh, and by the way, the hydroids above the majanos in the first pic can be problematic too. They spread and can sting nearby corals. Unfortunately, the only reliable way I've found to get rid of these hydroids is to dig out the rock around their base with a flat blade screwdriver.

Kevin

 

[FishDad2]

The appearance of the hydroids has corresponded with the appearance of the majanos. There were always some hydroids in there but they weren't really reporduicing too much and never caused a problem. The majanos on the other hand have appeared out of nowhere.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Have you been adding anything like phyto to the tank? I have noticed that the hydroids seem to appear more so when I am adding things like phyto to feed my feather dusters.

 

[FishDad2]

No changes in what I've been adding...same food and no new critter, rock, etc. for longer than I can remember. Suddenly though there are majano, hydroids, caulerpa, a red bubble algae that I've not taken the time to identify and a long leafy green algae that I've not seen in my tank before.

The majano, hydroids and the green leafy algae are all newcomers, but as I said I've not added anything new to the tank so I have no idea where they came from. As for the caulerpa and the red bubble algae, I've not seen either in the DT for many years as my yellow tang made short work of them when the tank was first setup. At the moment though the tang appears to be ignoring them...although it does continue to graze on the rock.

hhhmmm...the mysteries of fish.