Tank Tune Up: Pest Control

[new2u]

Hi Guys,

So I've been away at school for the past couple of months and my mom has been taking care of the tank. Shes done a fantastic job but unfortunatly while I've been away some of the pests that I didn't worry to much about have grown to gigantic levels.

First of all, my long standing problem has been with what i've called "pink star polyps". Luckily they've been restricted to the right side of my tank, and the solution path I've taken has been to remove all of my infested live rock, and replace it with new rock. However, I now have a vat filled with my encrused rock that I've become attached to, and my display could stand the re-addition of this rock. Does anyone have any suggestions or ETA on how long cooking this rock would take? I only have about 2 months and thats why I'm really worried that cooking wouldn't have enough time to run its course.

Secondly, I have come back to a great crop of majano anemones. Most of these are concentrated on rocks that I can remove from the tank and dry out if needed, but there is a sizable colony on my large leather rock. Does anyone have any suggestions apart from joes juice, which seemed to only mask the problem for a week or so just to have a bunch more pop up? If removal of the rock is necessary, i suppose I could chisel off my large leather but I'd really rather not do that.

Sorry that I don't have any pics currently, but here is a link to a video I made recently (earlier this week) and i'll work on some pics for tommorrow once the water clears from the re-rocked tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm01Z_vlrt4

Thanks!

Willis

 

[new2u]

So, heres a close up picture of my pink pest

and a full tank shot to show how much of it I have to deal with. I'm thinking a wire brush followed up with like epoxy or something might do the trick. Any IDs? I don't think it really matches clove polyps, pink star polyps, or Anthelia.

 

[HotHotHot]

Xenia! AAAHHHH!

It's a legit soft coral, but I understand the pest aspect. Sell it, trade the rocks to a hobbyist or LFS.

You might have better luck getting rid of it if you search for xenia.

 

[adambirk]

lots of lfs would take that rock and zenia in on trade for new rock then you get it out of your tank, and somone else just starting out will get some good beginer coral that will be hardy. win win

 

[new2u]

Wow, do i ever feel stupid. All the xenia I know is the branching or stalking type. I'll market it as such now, and see if I can find a buyer or whatnot.

 

[new2u]

So,

After trading all of it in the LFS guy ID'd the pink junk as "Encrusting Gorgonian" and after aa search online I'm going to have to agree with him. I hate with the LFS knows more than me .

In other news, I've started to try to get rid of my mojionos. I tried tweezing some off one rock to little sucess. However, i then read a suggestion on a small online forum to "blowtorch" them. Without access to a blowtorch, i've been trying with the torch lighters that people use to light grills. I tried on a smaller rock today with the 1 I had in the house and the results seemed good, but I didn't scrape them off. I"ll see what they look like when i get home from work today.

Any thoughts if I should scrape off the mojionos after I torch them in a separate container or something? Also, for those that I can't torch do you think I should try and get my hands on a syrenge and needle to inject with boiling RO water or sometheing?

Willis

 

[terryagi]

I've always called that "pink star polyps" as well. Couldn't you just peel it off of the rock where you don't want it? Granted, you won't be able to get all of it, but you could keep it under control.

 

[new2u]

I tried the peeling method, could never get all of it off and the weeds would keep on growing.

 

[terryagi]

I've never tried this, but you could put some kalk down after peeling. This may prevent the missed portions from returning.