tulip anemones will inherit the earth

kev-dog1

kev-dog1

New member
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:5mShQUIH_N76_M:http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Cnidarians/Anthozoans/AnemonePIX/image001.jpg@01C6227F.jpg

not sure if this image will show or not

anyways, these rascals are taking over my tank. They remind me of aiptasia, only prettier. Nice flourescence under actinic, with pink tips on the ends.
If only they didn't multiply so dang fast :(

Is there any natural way to eliminate them or at least curb their spreading?

If not, I'm gonna have lots of LR for sale CHEAP soon.

Thanks

Kev-dog
 
I agree that they are pretty cool to look at, but the ones in my tank were starting to multiply like rabbits and were stinging some of my corals. I don't know of any natural way to get rid of them, but I just Joe's Juice-ed a bunch in my 5.5 and it worked like a charm - they just take a little longer to shrivel up and die than most. I know Gary has mentioned before when we've been at his place that they are pretty easy to scrape off if you have the patience for it...
 
I bet I've got 75+ of these by now. Not sure Joe's Juice is worth it...how do you use it? Injection?
 
It comes with a syringe with a tip you attach where a needle would normally go. You suck up the Joe's Juice, point the tip at the anenome in question and squirt a tiny little bit in the mouth. With aiptasia, they shrivel up immediately. The tulips close up and look like a bubble for a few hours, but eventually just die off and are gone. You want to make sure you don't get it directly on certain corals though, it may bother them. It's supposedly reef safe, but it never hurts to be safe rather than sorry...
 
One thing that might work depending on what else is growing on your rocks is taking them out and cleaning the rocks one at a time. If you can scrape/pry them off or just chip them off of the rock you could steadily rid the aquarium of them. One concern I'd have with using joes juice, is it may leave microscopic remains that could turn into new polyps.

I recently did the above with some pulsing xenia I have to keep it in check. I pulled out a rock and used a screwdriver to chip off pieces of rock with xenia on it. I don't think this method would work so well with aiptasia because they attach themselves deeper in tiny crevices, but with things like the tulip anemones or xenia, etc, I think it could work okay provided you can get the rock out.
 
I recently got some extra live rock for my display for aquascaping purposes and one rock was covered with them and a few aip's....so i took it out andput it in a spare 20g tank with a 10k p.c. in water so that they stay out.
Then i box cut them out, including some pieces of rubble from rock, because even with a 75% body cut at almost bottom base they still try to shrivel and move deeper into rock....it's pretty cool, but a p.i.t.a.
 
I got a pipe organ from gary and there was some anemones on it. Not usre if they are tulip or majano. They are like a neon lookin' green with pink tips. Very cool if you could get them to take over one rock and not spread everywhere.

Steve
 
yup, thems the ones
got them at last years swap. just 2 or 3 tiny innocent looking things. (I think that's what they said about kudzoo.)

I'm hesitant to attack them with Joe's Juice because there are so many. Should I only attack a few at a time? Or just try to wipe them all out? What would this do to the rest of my reef?

At this point they are really segregated to one side of the tank...I have two main rock formations. But they are establishing a beach-hold on the other side.

Between these and the Kenya Weed....I really am considering raising the white flag.
 
I used kalk paste on some that were in the rock holding tanks and it did the trick, but it was a lrge system that was deficient in calcium (and there wasn't much to hurt by overdosing). I'd do them in smallish groups if you use kalk paste, but you can likely do more at a time with Joe's Juice. A copperband is a great idea, if you have the room...
 
I'm having trouble with aiptasia. I did add a couple peppermint shrimp today. My luck in the past hasnt been good with them. They only last a couple days. But this time, I acclimated them for 2 hours. If something happened and they don't make it...could I get small copperband for my 20 gal. then as soon as the aips are gone, take it out? I mean, it would only be a temporary home for it. Just an idea...

Steve
 
I don't think I have room for the Copperband, but I do love this fish.

I'll try the Joe's Juice.

Thanks everyone.
K
 
Steve- I think the problem with putting the copperband in and then taking him back out is that if he misses anything you'll be right back to square one in a few months. Same can be said for the peppermints, but they could stay indefinitely in a 20 (assuming you have good luck with them). I lost a few before I started acclimating them better and have had much better luck since I've started dripping them for 2+ hours.
 
I don't know if you'll need all the detail, but I put it in for others that might read it and need it:

I have a dedicated bucket for dripping (I have cats and they get curious), but you may not need that. What I do is use airhose with a valve in the middle of the tubing. I start a siphon and then just use the valve until I have a slow drip. For shrimp I probably do a drip per second or two (I really just eyeball it, but that seems about right). Then, just run that hose into a small bucket. I drilled a hole in the lid of my bucket so I could run the airline through and keep the cats out.

Every half an hour or so I take some water out of the drip bucket (dump it down the sink... not back into the tank) until the water is back down to the original level. This lets you slowly remove "fish store" water and raise the percentage of the water that is from your tank. Eventually, the water in the drip bucket will be almost entirely your water. One good thing about this method is that it ensures that the transport water never gets into your tank.

For sensitive inverts I drip for about 2 hours, maybe more. For other things that are less sensitive I just drip a little quicker and take water out a little sooner, but I still try to do at least an hour. If you have an auto top-off you'll want to unhook that and just fill your tank back up with salt water when you're done. Think of it as a mini water change.

Airhose and a plastic valve (make sure you get one that won't corrode since it will be used for water and not air) can be bought at just about any fish store. For a bucket you can use anything, but you'll want something with a relatively small bottom (i.e., tall and skinny, not short and wide), since a lot of times there isn't a lot of transport water (if you've only bought one or two things) and you'll want to make sure that the critters are submerged. You can always just use a bigger bucket if you are acclimating more stuff at once.

This just how I do it and have had pretty good success. I'd be open to hear other methods though, especially if they are easier. I like easy...
 
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