what am I?

boostenmkiv · 06-17-2005, 06:34 AM

I have had a nano reef in an eclipse 12 for almost 4 years..the tank consist of 2 perculas and one six lined wrasse and a handful of crabs and snails. I have something that absolutely took over my tank and have no idea what it is. I had aptasia anemone at first then all of the sudden these took over everything! Any ideas what this is?

By the way..glad I found this board, looks like a lot of good info and knowledgeable people here!

amcarrig · 06-17-2005, 06:36 AM

Anemone majano....another pest anemone and harder to kill than aiptasia. I share your pain as I have a plague of them in my own tank.

boostenmkiv · 06-17-2005, 07:21 AM

wow, only 2 minutes and got an answer! you rock. I just read up on them a little bit and found that the best way to get rid of them is to use a syringe and spray boiling water directly onto them. I've heard of using a syringe many times, but I have no idea where to get one (assuming I need a glass one since the plastic would likely melt with boiling water in it?) Also are there nice long ones so you don't have to stick your whole arm in the tank?

Thanks again! 3reef rocks!

amcarrig · 06-17-2005, 07:29 AM

Well, you can try injecting them but it's never worked for me. They always grow back

I've got a copperband butterfly in the tank right now in hopes that the fish will eat them but it hasn't even pecked yet. I'm assuming that once it's eaten all of the fan worms, it'll pay more attention to the anemones.

As for where to get syringes, I got mine at my local pharmacy but not everyone can just ask and receive needles this easily. I think I got lucky

Personally, instead of boiling water, I'd try to inject them with kalk paste. Because you won't be able to get a paste that thick through a needle, you'll need a larger syringe (like the plastic ones that come with the Salifert test kits that you use to measure your test water with). What I do is mix enough kalkwasser and r.o. water to make a thick paste and try my best to drop a glob of it directly on the amemone's mouth. I've read somewhere that if you "flavor" the paste with a bit of fish food, the anemone might grab the end of the syringe as a feeding response and it would be easier to inject the glob of kalk directly into its mouth. I have yet to try this myself.

Bruce · 06-17-2005, 08:12 AM

i have the best way to get ride of those

all u need 2 do is put a dump load of epoxy over them, eventually coraline algae will grow over it and u wont even know

thats what i did for my little anemones

amcarrig · 06-17-2005, 08:15 AM

Epoxy works well but only if you've got one or two. From the looks of it, boostenmkiv has as many as I do

boostenmkiv · 06-17-2005, 08:30 AM

thanks for the replies. I do have a TON of them...can't even begin to count, but i'd put money its over 100 and the tank is only a 12gal tank.

On a side note, it am going to be taking this tank down as I am in the process of getting a new 46+ size and intend to move some stuff that is salvageable from this eclipse tank to the new tank...I was told by someone that I could put the live rock in boiling water and that any harmful crabs (i think there are some that ate my shrimp and possily my urchin too) and all these stupid anemones will fall off and then I could put that rock in my new tank without bringing too much "carp" into the new tank right off the bat.

Any thoughts on this appreciated.

Thanks again!
Mike

Here is a thread on my questions for my new setup - http://www.3reef.com/forums/showthre...753#post314753

Bruce · 06-17-2005, 09:05 AM

um well...since u r movine 2 a new bigger tank maybe u should just buy new rock...boiling would prolly take care of it but...there is always that chance and in that size tank it would be very hard to take care of it...i suppose this kind of thing is inevitable...your could always put a coral with a stronger sting next 2 it and that would kill it lol

amcarrig · 06-17-2005, 09:24 AM

If it were me, I'd bleach the heck out of it instead. No ifs ands or buts about whether or not you've killed everything when you do it that way

If you do decide to boil or bleach the rock, make sure that you use 100% new/clean sand and rock or you'll just be transferring the existing problem into the new tank. All it takes is one little tiny remnant of those anemones and you'll be right back where you started from.

boostenmkiv · 06-17-2005, 09:42 AM

even though these anemone look "prettier" than an aiptasia, I definately do NOT want them in my new tank..so I guess I will go with my other thought and boil the rock then put it back in the eclipse 12 and let it go for a while to see if I got it all out..then turn that tank into a small seahorse tank or something like that.