Anemones?!

[jaydm93teg]

i was lookin on all my live rock today and there is little brown looking anemone type things? i didnt know if they were good to keep around or if i should try and heat up a screw driver and dig them off my rock?

i haven seen a pic of a feather duster so that may be what this is??

[Brian35]

Both could be nice additions to your tank. If you dont want them do what you must, but i would say that your safe either way.

I recently picked up a few pieces of LR for seeding Coraline and one piece had a small anemone on it. Nice lil hitchhiker. I sure hope he makes it and grows up.

Brian

[Reefland]

No, No, No, Brown colored Anemone looking things are not good hitchhikers; do a search on Aiptasia for some reading and methods to erradicate.

[Brian35]

bad call on my part. Stinging threads and Overruning multiplication = EVIL.

Thank you for the education Scott. Thats why your the pro!

[Reefland]

No pro here, just been around for a few years. There are some great threads here on Reefland on these evil guys and how to best get rid of them both manually and naturally.

[jaydm93teg]

so i deffinently do not want these things?..........the thins is here were quite a few on the 3 diff live rocks that i bought..........sometime i look and they arent even there and then i will look again and it is in full blooM?

can u link me on how to get rid of them naturally?

[Brian35]

I see in researching these anemones that there are a few fish and inverts that consume them

Found this article
http://www.reefs.org/library/article...a_Control.html

But i would think there are other natural ways as well.

[jaydm93teg]

yeah i want to try to find a picture of this aiptasia to make sure we are talkinab about the same thing before i go buy something that is goin to get rid of them

[Samper]

If you have kalk or pickling lime just mix up some in water and make a paste, get a syringe from your local crack head or feed store whichever you prefer. Suck up the paste, jam that needle right in their mouths and let em suck paste. Seems violent but very necessary so you don't get overrun.

[Brian35]

samper i like the us or them attitude! ;)

[jaydm93teg]

does anyone have a picture of one of these things so i can make sure its the same im talking about?

[Brian35]

i just did a search for Aiptasia on google and there are quite a few website with photos. Some are better shots than other.

In line with what samper said about the Kalk i just found a page that said to use lemon juice for the injection. Citric acid i guess.

[Samper]

Can also use boiling water but I personally have had success with the kalk paste.

[Reefland]

Here is a link to a picture zhenya posted recently.
http://www.reefland.com/forum/attach...achmentid=3701

[jaydm93teg]

that pic is pretty much what they look like except it is brown.........i have about 4 in my tank one i just dug out with a hot ass screw driver. the other im just gonna tear off that clam on the rock since its on a clam and then the other two i guess i will inject with lemon juice.

thanks guys

o yeah late last night i was looking and i swear i saw what looked like a tiny black circle that looked like a porky pine it had little spikes coming off of it any idea what that maybe? never see it in the day time just that once last night

[Samper]

Don't scrape or tear them off :eek3: .... they will leave pieces behind that will just re seed the system. You are going to have to inject them to get rid.

[Reefland]

Your other hitchhiker that you descibe sounds like an Urchin of some kind. Small in size, they are harmless but as they grow larger, they will barge through the reef without any concern for knocking over corals and they will remove coralline algae. The benefit if needed is they sometimes will eat hair algae too.

[Sueet]

they will barge through the reef without any concern

Boy you can say that again! I cannot tell you how many times I've had to reglue, re-place ... well, everything except the largest of my rocks in the tank that has the urchin... He's kewl to look at, but what a PITA! And he definitely DOES eat coralline... and he ate all my hair algae too... and he cleans the glass... Algae eating machine!

[jaydm93teg]

mr. urchin was out again tonite looking pretty cool.......i will try to get rid of all the other brown stuff tomorrow and let u guys know how it goes thanks agagin for the help

[ick sucks]

sounds like aiptasia anemone they reproduce like weeds alomost every tank that introduces ocean rocks will get them. dont worry about them they will most likely help remove pollutants from the water !