Need temoporary home for RBTA's

[fourtanks]

I have a huge outbreak of majano anemones in my 29g FOWLR w/RTBAs tank! I have considered using Joe's Juice or Kalk Paste to kill them one by one but I have hundreds and have heard mixed reviews on this method and am concerned about it killing my RBTAs.

I would like to find a temporary home for my 3 RBTAs (medium sized - about 6" in diameter when fully opened) for a few months while I temporarily put a small butterfly fish in the tank to take care of the majanos. Do you think this is a good plan?

Please let me know if you can help me out.

Dwayne

 

[AIMFish]

Get some peppermint shrimp and relax

 

[RUFISHY2]

Peppermints are hit and miss, (almost always miss) with Majano. I've seen them do pretty well with aptasia.

A butterfly might work if you can keep him alive, but then what? If he doesn't adapt to eating prepared foods, he's going to die.

In my experience the best thing to do for majanos (unfortunately I discovered it by accident) is to remove everything from the tank, and drop the salinity until they all die.
Another option is, you can remove all the rock and "cook" it. You could try just removing the affected rock to a tub and cooking it. Hopefully more of the little buggers won't sprout up in the mean time.

I know it stinks, sorry, I hope it all works out for you.
Also, I know Ade had a pretty bad Majano outbreak once, maybe he has $.02 to add.

 

[dadyoj21]

Dwayne,

When I used the butterfly (true falcula) in my 90 I had a large green bubble tip anem in the tank and the butterfly did not pick on it at all. Caught him picking on the LPS in the tank and occasionally the softies. In three months he wiped out roughly 1000 majano and then I took him in for store credit. I had ordered a double saddled butterfly after doing some research but they sent me the nicer true falcula. I think either one would get the job done as well as a few others just do a little research and see what is available.

As far as housing the rbtas, If you think you may need to, I am planning on draining and cleaning out the 40L frag tank in the next week or two, and do not have much in it right now. I could probably house the RBTA's in there assuming they will be ok under PC lighting. I personally would see if the butterfly picks on them first. Also getting some new rock is an option if you find someone who has a deal on it.

I prefer getting dry dead rock and seeding with a few pounds of pest/problem free live rock. Too many unseen potential problems with buying large amounts of live rock.

 

[AIMFish]

Oops, I saw aptasia

 

[fourtanks]

Ade said he used a butterfly to decimate his majanos and it didn't bother his BTA. I'm going to try a Klein Butterfly at his advice. I'll keep you posted.

 

[fourtanks]

I got my Klein Butterfly yesterday and he seems to be adjusting to the tank well. (I had Petco order him. Their prices are pretty good and you don't have to pay shipping) Now let's hope he eats the majanos and leaves my RBTAs alone.

 

[RUFISHY2]

I hope it works out for you. Good Luck!

 

[fourtanks]

It's been 2 weeks since I got the Klein Butterfly and all of my majanos are gone! So far I haven't seen him bothering anything else, let's hope it stays that way.

 

[RUFISHY2]

Sweet. I don't think you'll have much trouble out of him. Is he eating other stuff too?

 

[eengmd]

Let me know if you have a problem keeping him fed since the majanos are gone. I had a hard time transitioning my butterfly after he cleaned up all my apitasia and majanos.