Majanos- Keep or KILL

[NicoleC]

Not all hitchhiker anemones are majanos or aiptasia or another pest. If you like it, keep an eye on it. If it doesn't reproduce, keep it. If you see a second one in the next week or so, nuke 'em both by covering them with slightly liquified kalkwasser and leave it on for 30 minutes with the pumps off..

 

[commonstranger]

Kill !

 

[rcmike]

If you have majanos I would get rid of them ASAP! I battled them for years after actually buying the "colonial anemones" from a LFS. We got them for a 10 gal. tank my wife had set up. They never did reproduce in there but when we tore it down we put everything in the big tank. They took off after that and they would kill any coral that was near them. I would actually find them in the middle of a large sps colony with a big dead spot surrounding them. I tried many times to get rid of them and I never found a predator that would eat them and not the corals. The closest I got was a raccoon butterfly. Of course he would pick at the corals as well. Just when I would think I got rid of them they would start coming back. I actually pretty much left the tank alone for months and for some odd reason they are all gone. I have aiptasia now but they don't bother me nearly as much.

 

[ameares8]

As far as shrimp go, I have had peppermint shrimp that did a great job of cleaning new corals. I never QT'ed anything when I started so they made up for my rookie mistakes. I was lucky in that aspect. However, recently I got a large rock with corals from a fellow reefer who's tank I knew had nothing in it. Somehow when i got it home I found a tiny aiptasia. After about 2 days my Cleaner Shrimp decided it did not belong in the tank and ate it. He will also search rocks and jab his claws into a tiny hole and turn a bristle worm into sushi. Yesterday, I watched him eat a very cool barnacle that I have had for a year. My cleaner shrimp before him never ate anything except for what I fed the tank. My point is that shrimp are shrimp. If they have a palet for something they will eat. It is just hit or miss.

 

[ZachB]

My peppermint shrimp (not a camel) decided he was going to start chomping on my frogspawn and torch. He got put in the sump, then accidentally blended by the skimmer pump.

I would find a way to kill the majanos.

 

[zef004]

I've used kalk past. Which kills them fast and work great on anything you won't to kill in your tank. I've even use it to keep my zoas in check and mushroom. Yes I have to kill my zoas and mushroom when they get to close to my sps. It's easier then try to frag them. :blown: :fun2:

 

[Mikeyjer]

My tank used to be taken over by majano, aiptasia, and tulip anemones. I got some Peppermint Shrimp. I started zapping the big majano with joe's juice. I was trying to keep the Tulip before Angela had that breakout...lol.... But the Peppermints wiped every last anemone from my tank, doesn't matter which kind, they had them all gone.

 

[rcmike]

Kalk would always make mine reproduce.

 

[NicoleC]

Then you either didn't use enough kalk or didn't leave it on long enough. You need to be sure it's on there until the whole thing is dissolved, otherwise the pieces regenerate.

 

[rcmike]

Trust me, I used plenty and left it on a long time. Mine were a little different looking than the ones pictured. They has shorter tentacles and were a brighter green. Were not talking about a couple of dozen either, there were hundreds of them. I battled them for years.

 

[DMBillies]

My suggestion for peppermint shrimp were specifically for controlling small anemones in general. It's been my experience that, when anemones are small enough and in small enough numbers, peppermints will eat them and keep them under control. They also clean up the tank, which undoubtedly helps the nutrient problems that often cause these anemone proliferations.

That said, I'm no marine biologist, so I can't say I've 100% certainly identified every small anemone in my tank and that peppermints will eat everything. Moreover, most of these pest anemones are probably from a smattering of different closely related species because of the various regions our corals all come from. So, I am not saying Peppermints will solve the OP's situation. I am merely saying that I think they are generally a good idea and can't hurt in most situations.

As far as peppermint shrimp not eating anemones or eating corals, there are mixed reports of this happening. It has never been my experience. The only thing my peppermints have ever done is crawl into a coral and steal food from them. I'm not saying it isn't possible, I just don't know that I would call it common to have them eating coral. I will say if you have corals or large anemones that need to eat a lot of big food particles, they are probably not a great idea.

There are a number of shrimp species that look incredibly close to Lysmata wurdemanni (the Peppermint we usually want to be keeping) that are often labeled and sold in the hobby as Peppermint Shrimp. The Camel shrimp is actually one of the easier ones to identify as different from Peppermints because of the bright white on them (usually Rhynchocienetes uritai though other species also share the common name Camel shrimp). The point is, it would be pretty well possible to end up with a Lysmata californica, for example, and not know it.

Also, FWIW, in my experience peppermints have always done way better when kept in a group of at least 3, but don't expect them to live forever anyway. They have short lifespans naturally. If you do keep a group, you're very likely to have them spawn, which is cool to see and provides some tasty treats for your tank.

 

[lori13]

Well they are toast now. I used the ice method to get them closed up really tight and then removed them with a razor craft blade and managed to scrap away some live rock below their bases to be sure I got them. Fingers crossed but nothing has showed back up in the last 3 days.

Thanks for all the suggestions.