Help Identifying

[DawgDiggity]

What are these?

The red or rose tipped anenome split on 4/27 and again last night. The one in the middle that looks deflated is the original.

 

[NeveSSL]

Oh crap! Those look like tulip anemones. You need to try to get those taken care of ASAP or they can potentially take over your tank, bro! Just ask Angela.

Brandon

 

[DMBillies]

The anemone is a tulip anemone. You're best bet is to get rid of them ASAP. Yes, they may be pretty, but ask Angela, they can be a PLAGUE! People have had different results with different methods of removal. Joe's Juice sort of works on them, but you have to juice them repeatedly to actually kill them. If you can get the rock out of the tank, they come off pretty easily, or you can heat a needle with a flame and stick it directly into the mouth of them to kill them - kind of mean, but it works.

 

[Angela Short]

HOLLY CRAPOLLA! NUKE IT NOW!!! YES, I AM YELLING!!! Just seeing your pic makes my stomach upset :lol:
This is a pic of how they invaded my tank...

Notice all the dead stuff!!?? Seriously Brian can attest to how bad they were...a million times worse than that pic in the sad, sad end... I literally took all my rock out and its currently in Fresh water in the yard to kill all those buggers ...Period... I couldn't afford all new rock so my only option was totally killing everything in my tank is how bad they had got. They would let go and float the tank and be EVERYWHERE and kill everything they touched. There was even one on my cucumber hitching a ride!! They kill everything in site... Please don't think since they are pretty you can keep them in check. Granted, I went through a lazy tank slump but geeezz from 2 or 3 to totally wiping out a 7 foot tank in less than 2 years!!?? Don't risk them.

 

[Angela Short]

One more they covered this section to confluency killing everything in there path. They would even multiply on the sand, glass it didn't matter!....

 

[DawgDiggity]

Wow... I don't guess dedicating space in a frag tank for these girls is a way I can give back to the Club??! They are pretty but have tripled in just three weeks. the rock is coming out today.
Thanks for the pic and warning all!
Angela that is horrible to hear you have had to kill everything to get rid of these anenomes. Sorry to hear that

 

[H@rry]

I got quite an infestation of the little b***tards in one tank before I realized what they would do. Here's what I'm doing that in working now.

I taped a 25ml syringe to one end of a 26 inch piece of 1/4 inch wooden dowel. Then taped silicon airline tubing from the syringe all the way down to then other end of the dowel and cut it off about 2 inches longer than the dowel. The natural curl of the tubing made a little hook on the end. I then squirt them with common vinegar. They immediately close up when you do that. You'll have to hit them for 3 or 4 days to get rid of them but it is working. I shoot three syringes a day when I do it. I want to do it every day but it's actually more like twice a week.

The good thing about the dowel is that you don't have to put your arm in the tank so you can look through the front glass to see what you're doing and squirt it right in their "face".

One other thing: I thought peppermint shrimp would eat them so I put a bunch of them in and they didn't even seem to notice them. After the first time I treated them with vinegar I looked in with a flashlight that night and they were all over them. Maybe they like tulips with vinegar like I like turnip greens with vinegar!

 

[guinness0514]

I wonder if I have a baby one...Kinda hard to tell...It came in as a hitcher on my tricolor Acro...I have it glued down, but I might pry it up if you think this is what this is....

 

[H@rry]

Yep, that's it.

 

[guinness0514]

Ok it is at the top of my tank and preety easy to reach. What is the best, err easiest way to kill it? I want to keep from putting chemicals in my tank. Jab it with a hot needle? I know that might be heartless, but killing it by any other means is still killing it right? What are the odds this will do the trick?

 

[H@rry]

If you've only got one you could get a gob of AquaMend and plaster over it. That will get it.

 

[Angela Short]

It will KILL the acro everywhere it touches it!! I am so glad we have a reefin comunity to get info from like this to save you guys from thinking you got cool hitch hikers and having a plauge in a few months like I did! The super glue or aquamend works great if you get it to close up and just cover him up like Harry said. Just don't try to pry it off unless you can get the entire foot or rubble under it off. Ripping it will not kill it and its small peices can float around and make more babies everywhere.

Harry, Does the vinegar not drop the bottom out of your PH? A few drops of that stuff in a tank can swing your PH way more than a few points in my experience. And BTW I LOVE it on my greens also... I think I will go open a can of "Ol Glory southern style" brand mustard green now that you mentioned them... Yummy, best store brand since my mama lives 4 hours away with the garden!

 

[H@rry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12572916#post12572916 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Angela Short

Harry, Does the vinegar not drop the bottom out of your PH? A few drops of that stuff in a tank can swing your PH way more than a few points in my experience.

I never check it after I do it so I don't know. 70 - 75 ml in a 225 never showed any signs of creating a problem. My pH is always pretty low anyway.

 

[DawgDiggity]

Yeah Angela, this is pretty cool that such a huge problem can be taken care of so quickly. I don't heed warnings very well, but the pictures of your prairie of tulips and coral skeletons definitely put the fear into me!
Thanks H@rry for the DIY DeathDrip! Luckily all my tulips are on one rock with nothing else on it. I am going to try quarantine the rock, to keep my corraline algae alive, and apply vinegar.

 

[guinness0514]

Yeah I glued the hole the tulip was in and I haven't seen him come out anywhere else...Hopefully I got the little bugger

 

[NeveSSL]

Man, Dawg, I wouldn't even worry about coralline. It'll grow back. Nuc the crap out of that rock with whatever you're using! With pH, calcium, and alk your coralline will grow back in no time at all.

Brandon