Majanos from Hell !!

[montrealreef]

Hi All,

I have a 100 G SPS dominated reef aquarium which has been running for over 2 years now.
When I was still a beginner, a local fish store sold me a few pieces of live rock with several hitch-hikers on it. They told me that they were little bubble tip anemones and that they were harmless. They looked kind of cute so I left them in place. A couple of months later and after reeding a few books on reef keeping, I learned the unfortunate truth... they were Anemone Majanos. And that was the start of a 2 year battle... I've tried everything I could come across to get rid of them, but all they do is continue to multiply.

To date I've tried Joe's Juice, Kalk paste, Vinegar, lime Juice, concentrated saltwater, boiling RO water and different types of fish and shrimp that have been reported to occasionally eat majanos. These include 3 different copperband butterfly fish that never even looked at the majanos (all died of malnutrition despite eating mysis shrimp), 10 peppermint shrimp ( and yes they're the real ones), a majestic angelfish (has been a model citizen in my tank for 6 months- never touches any invertebrates and eats flake food), a double saddle butterflyfish and a raccoon butterflyfish ( more interested in my SPS and only occasionally look at the majanos but never actually eat them). I've even tried taking pieces of LR out of the water and burned the hell out of them with a solder iron. The only thing that that achieved was stinking up my apartment for a few days.

At first they were just annoying, now there are so many of them, they are stinging and killing my corals. There are a least 200 of them. They concentrate in the small cracks and holes in the LR and from there multiply outwards.

I'm about ready to give up. I keep thinking that It is over and I should tear my tank down and take a break from this hobby for a couple of years then maybe start over....

I'm making a desperate call for help, has anyone had success in dealing with these little critters from hell??


Thanks..

 

[JetCat USA]

you can try all the suggestions and listen to all the people who sweat 'Oh i had hundreds of them and Joe's Juice (or Kalk) killed em all........blah blah blah' the Only way to rid your tank of them is to take it down and keep the rock without light for a year.

i had millions of them in a 180g with 450lbs of rock, i cooked the rock for 6 months and thought I'd ridded the system of them, 2 yrs later they were popping up again.......took it back down, cooked it a year and they are now gone.

 

[montrealreef]

Thanks for your honesty....

I fear that it has come to this unfortunate reality.. I'm just desperate for a solution and I started this thread as a last ditch effort.

 

[JetCat USA]

i wouldn't let it get me down on it, but i assure you after you get rid of them, you will do a very thorough inspection of EVERYTHING and QT it before putting it in your tank again once bitten twice shy.

there is a bright side, the cooking removes all the PO4/NO3 from your rock, the pods survive and have a fair population and the rock will start coloring back up within a few weeks of being back in the light.

 

[leveldrummer]

i hate to suggest it, because it sounds very very dangerous, but i found this, and havent had the guts to try it, but it seems you may be very desperate for a solution, it involves using lye to target kill, try it at your own risk, because i dont know what dosing lye into a tank can do. and i would suggest getting a hypodermic, and injecting it INTO the pests. good luck and keep us posted. here is the directions

http://www.asira.org/killingaiptasiaxeniaetc

 

[MammothReefer]

I had trouble with them to, Joe Juice didn't work but.. Blue Life Aiptasia Control Did, don't be shy though with it, and turn off all your powerheads before you apply it so it really just settles down on them and melts them away.

 

[KurtsReef]

Same thing, but all the rock that had them on it is now in my refuge. Guess I could place them in no light for a year.

 

[Dejavu]

I'm in the second month of cooking and still see them on the rock.
JetCat USA is right on, cooking is the only way to get rid of them.

 

[JetCat USA]

there is a little quicker way but i don't recommend it

i left a few of my rocks in a 5g bucket (filled with water of course) with a lid laying across the top, my 5 yr old sat on it and sealed it off, about 2 days later when i opened it hydrogen sulfide had set in and there was NO life in the bucket other then bacteria if you think the soldering iron in your appt smell was bad, please don't try this

 

[morishidle]

the best thing that works for me is a 1cc 27 gauge neele with b-ionic and melt them, the needle will let you penatrate the little *****s and they will just melt it has always worked for me and in 6 years i have never had any back in my aquarium

 

[JetCat USA]

all those little injections work ONLY when you have one or two on a single piece of rock, when you have an infestation of them they are EVERYWHERE and you'll never rid a system of them with injections of any kind, i tried it for yrs. for every one you see there are 10 more you can't.

 

[easye123]

ya ive battled them forever too.. I dont have the timt to cook rock for a year soo i just buy a bottle of joes juice every month.. IT dosent do anyhting but make them go away for a week or two. its better then to see them take over.

 

[Doubledown]

Friend of mine, out of desperation, put a small (1.5") Racoon Butterfly - yes I said Racoon Butterfly - into his 300 gallon SPS reef. He had the same issues you describe, mojanos multiplying and killing his corals.

As stunned as I was that he did it, the little guy has knocked out 90% of them in less than a month and has been a fairly good citizen beyond that. The only coral he has eaten or nipped at all has been the GSP in the tank, but my friend is willing to make that trade off.

Do I think the butterfly once finished with the mojanos will go after his LPS and then SPS - oh YES. I believe he will be removed within the next few weeks and provided a more sutable home (without the corals to munch on).

YMMV, but it has worked for him. I don't think I would have the guts to try a Racoon, but one of the deep water species like Tinker's, Declavis or Burghess might do the trick on the anemones and leave your SPS alone (can't say they would leave your LPS though).

 

[diesel10]

Instead of a soldering iron try a propane torch, like used for plumbing to sweat pipes. I used that to clean off GSP on a rock, as well as hydroids. Nothing really eats the hydroids either.

 

[wentreefgirl]

Ok, what are the nutrients in the tanks with infestation. I used to have majanos and aiptasia. Used kalc paste. Howerver, noticed a steep decline in them when i went low nutrient. Seems the nutrients help in their growth and multiplication. I do the needle trick. It gets the majano even retracted into the rock.

 

[JetCat USA]

they thrive in low nutrient tanks, they are LIGHT lovers, the more light the better, your corals will die of low nutrient before a majano will.

 

[matt the fiddler]

by the way- how do you pronounce the name? Like spanish with a H sound... or Mow- Jan- OH?

 

[JetCat USA]

Muh John Oh!

 

[Dejavu]

I have tried a Racoon Butterfly. yes he did eat them, but also ate SPS. I wasn't willing to let him stay in the tank and removed him.

 

[montrealreef]

Thank you for all your suggestions and advise.

My nutrient levels are low ( Nitrate and Phosphate undetectable by salifert test kits) and other water parameters are OK

I have tried both a Raccoon and a double saddle butterflyfish without success (both ate SPS and never touched the the Majanos)