IT's OFFICIAL! I have HAD IT!

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ShawShank

New Member
After my 30 gallons of water has been made (ro/di) it will be placed in a large tub. There, I will be placing all rocks from my tank inside of it for a "decontamination" period. Hopefully only 30 mintues or less.

I will have to snap off all my SPS to do this. It saddens me, but I have no choice. I may loose nothing, I might loose everything. Its a risk I am willing to take.

Hopefully in the frigid NON saltwater tub, the anenomes will pop off and I can have my rocks and tank back. If not, a wire brush will be utilized to finish the job.

Damn anenomes!

Couple of questions - can zoos survive in frigid water conditions (non salt) for 5-30 minutes?
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Shawshank,

Are you talking about aiptasias? I've been noticing for the last 4 months a group of little anenomes growing on my live rock next to my powerhead. I didn't think nothing of it but it's been multiplying.

Now the reason I haven't started eradicating them, I don't know what they are. I believe aiptasias are dull in color light brown see through. These are florensent green on the top and then see through.

I think I have been fooled because I use 20,000 HQI and they might be disguising themselves in it.

Does anyone know if aiptasias can be this coloration?
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
I think I've answered my own question. After reading a little more on the net, I think this quote sums it up:

Identification: Zooxanthellae (a minute dinoflagellate alga living in the tissues of many types of marine invertebrates) in aiptasia anemones is what gives them their color. For this reason specimens that live in well sunlit exposed waters are usually light greenish brown to dark brown, with those residing in less sunlit environments medium to light brown or tan in color, while dark location dwellers have a transparent appearance due to the lack of exposure to sunlight altogether.

I'm going to first try some pepermint shrimp two or three of them.

MG
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I have npticed a slightly greenish hue before in some of mine, it depends on the lighting they receive IMO.
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Mike -

No no. :fu

I am talking about something much MUCH worse than aiptasia.

I am referring to those cute and cuddly TULIP ANENOMES! Word of advice, if you have them DESTROY THEM PROMPTLY! Or, keep them in check!

I have just scraped literally 2000 of them off my rocks and I still have 3/4 of the tank to go. Started this at 4ish I think. So far so good, but its a PAIN IN THE A** to say the least.

Again, if you have TULIP ANENOMES - NUKE THEM NOW!
 
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Jennie

New Member
I hear you, I've getting ready to go to war as well with them. I used to use Lemon juice on them and it worked relatively well, now it doesn't seem to effect them at all.

If memery serves me correctly....I think I got mine for who? :mrgreen:
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Hmm, not sure who you got them from? :roll:

It kills me to have to snap all my corals off. But its the only thing left I can do :(
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Well, my tank is in chaos, but all the sps are ok. Some I didnt not remove from the tank at all. I got 1/4 of the tulips out. Dumped them in my bathtub to see how many there were..

Must have been THOUSANDS. Entire bathtub was covered in them. Down the drain they went.

More than likely all the rocks will have to be trashed and new rocks purchased. 3/4 of the tank is still covered. Very sad.
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Also - FYI

Tulip anenome juice - stains clothes and causes temporary blindness. This I found out. It scared me to death.. but after some eye flushing with cold water and 5 minutes, everything is back to normal.

Let this be a warning to those that play with your tank. Use caution. :shock:
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Not of the tulips down the tub. Didn't feel like messing with them and having my cat get sick playing in it.

Ill get some pics of the tank.
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Okay,

I just got back from my LFS and with 3 peppermint shrimp. I made sure to get the correct breed as there is a California cousin that is darker and will not eat aiptasia. Also stay away from the camal shrimp which a lot of LFS will tell you that it's a peppermint.

The camal will not eat aiptasia. I acclimated the three shrimps and then I dropped them next to the anenomes in question since my tank is large. They looked at them and since a little frightened they hid from sight.

I will have to watch them closely for the next couple of days and see if they attempt to remove any.

While at my LFS I got a up and close look at real aiptasias and they have larger longer tentacles than mine and they are ugly brown. If mine are aiptasia they are a breed that are very short tentacles and greenish color.

I'm positive its not the the tulip anenome or the other nuissance anemone, it has to be aiptasia but just a really wierd species I believe.

If the shrimp leave it alone completely then I assume it's somthing else.

While doing some other reading on aiptasia I found out that there is a particular nudibrach that feeds exclusively on them.

Mike G
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Thats the Berghia nudibranch that eats aiptasias. Some have had very good success with some fish like the copper banded butterfly but it can be hit or miss withem since not all of the seem to go after the aiptasias.
A note on the camelback shrimp you mentioned, they may not touch aiptasias but they will enjoy dining on all of you polyps, these guys are definitely not reef safe.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Ok, forgive my ignorance, but what is a tulip anemone? Are you speaking of the dreaded Majano anemone? If so, I just have never heard it called a tulip anemone before. Sounds like the same thing.

I was talking to the owner of my LFS last week and he was called out to do maintenance on a medium sized tank that he had never seen before. He said Majanos covered up everything (except the front glass, which the owner did manage to scrape every now and then) and they were even growing down the overflows. He said he had never seen anything like it. It was esentially a Majano tank. Needless to say, he declined that maintenance job.

The main display tank at that LFS had a breakout of these and they started systematically treating small patches of them at a time with Joe's Juice, until they were mostly under control - but not irradicated (well, until the hurricane anyway - they are all gone now).
 
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ShawShank

New Member
Well.. I am not sure what to do at this point. Scraping these guys off one by one with a needle is very time consuming. Not to mention I missed a few which will in turn, sprout more.

I am stuck with 3 alternatives.

1 - Buy all new rock and start fresh. This would be costly.

2 - Remove all corals and items I want to keep from the rocks and place them in a feshwater only bucket and let them sit for a day or two. Hopefully the anemones will die or pop off. However, they are extremely hardy!

3 - Induce a tank crash. Remove all corals and fish and house them in a holding "cell" and induce a tank crash. Then, hopefully all the anemones will die off along with everything else.

What should I do? Maybe just pitch the whole thing all together? :?:
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
Well if i were you and be all infested and p****d with them ill move all the rock infested put it in a bare tank and full it with RO water and then will add a bottle of Joe's juice and let the buggers suffer in those kind of condition for a week or less....sounds cruel but thats waht ill do.... but you should do it now cause 2 days off sunday &monday (memorial day) :mrgreen:
 
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