Help with ball anemone maybe

[gtp0083]

I have searched the end of the web trying to figure these things out. I believe what I have is a whole lot of ball anemones. They are everywhere. They are perfectly clear no red center. They are all the size of a dime with the occasional one maybe the size of a quarter.

My wife has been removing them with tweezers. They stay together (don't break apart) and are very sticky. She touched one on accident and said it stung pretty bad. No other side effects. We have tried boiling water and a syringe some die others could care less. Everything I read says these are harmless. And don't be bothered by them.

I am having a problem keeping any snails/shrimp or crabs alive. If I put them in the tank after acclimation they're gone by weeks end. Could this be the culprit? Fish are fine. All I have are a few BTA's, mushrooms GSP and sympodium. None of them seem to be bothered.


Tank is a IM lagoon 50 been up and running for 2-3 years. Running filter socks, ghost protein skimmer and GFO. Hydra 52hd light.


I'll update with some water parameters when I get back from the LFS.

And yes I'm aware of the sponge outbreak and bubble algae issue. One battle at a time.

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[j.falk]

They look like bleached out strawberry anemones or ball anemones to me.

Strawberry anemone:

Ball anemone:

 

[gtp0083]

I agree but absolutely zero color


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[gtp0083]

I've also read strawberry anemones are hard to keep alive. Also they don't like warmer water. My tank is 78° and well....... not that clean. I've seriously researched the heck out of this before posting.

From what I've found it's a ball anemone which is actually in the mushroom family. My only concern is are they killing off snails shrimp and crabs. Can't keep any of them alive.


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[j.falk]

I had these same anemones in my 34 gallon with several snails, 2 cleaner shrimp and several dwarf hermit crabs and never had any trouble with them.

It sounds like you have a predator (possible hitchhiker) somewhere in the tank. We had this same issue with a 90 gallon reef display tank at work. After months of trying to figure out what was cleaning out the livestock in the aquarium, we finally spotted the culprit one night after the lights went out:

Gorilla crab:

I'd recommend shutting the lights off on the tank and just sit back and watch for awhile to see if anything unusual comes out and starts prowling around.

 

[gtp0083]

Would a gorilla crab eat a serpent star? I have one of those living happily in the tank. Forgot to mention him.


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[j.falk]

Would a gorilla crab eat a serpent star? I have one of those living happily in the tank. Forgot to mention him.


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Green serpent stars are known to be predators.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1595020

 

[gtp0083]

Just to clarify..... This guy has been in my tank forever. Never seen him eat anything besides target feedings or cleaning up leftovers. To be honest he is a pretty aggressive eater. His body is about the size of a nickel. Never would have thought.

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