Anenomes

[molybdenumman]

I've had my 45g tank running for about a year now. In the last three months, I've had at least 5 small anenomes grow out of the blue. Should I be concerned about controlling them, or just consider myself lucky.

[christyf5]

Hi and welcome to the board!

Well from my experience I can say that when anenomes suddenly appear its usually not a good thing. What do they look like? They could be aiptasia or majano anenomes, both of which can reach plague proportions in your tank and wreak havoc with corals. Do you have any pics??

Christy :)

[molybdenumman]

There are at least two different types. I'll post some pictures later tonight.

[molybdenumman]

Here are the pics, finally. These have come up in the last six months, the green/orange one reproducing twice.

http://www3.telus.net/public/s1044/reproducing%20anenome.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/s1044/stringy%20anenome.jpg

Please send me info regarding these ... pests?

[Chad]

I could not look at these.. here is a better link

http://www3.telus.net/public/s1044/Reproducing%20Anenome.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/s1044/Stringy%20Anenome.jpg

Captialization makes a difference unfortunatly.. these links work tho :biggrin:

I like the look of the first one.. not sure if its bad tho

Chad

[christyf5]

The stringy one (2nd link) is definitely aiptasia. The first one looks kind of cool. No idea what it is though.

Christy :)

[robbyville]

I can't speak to the first one (Although it looks nice),

The second does look like an aptaisia or other nuisance anemone to me though. How large is it, and have you noticed if there are lots of them growing in the tank?

Rob

[molybdenumman]

I have two of the "aptasia" growing in my tank right now. The bosy is about the size of a loonie.

[robbyville]

Get the aptaisia as soon as you can! I had thought that I was doing a good job in controlling them, unfortunately that was not the case and now I have over 27 of them throughout the tank!

Some people have had success with injecting boiling hot water into them and then trying to draw them out with the syringe (Left over material can regenerate). I had some success with this but obviously not enough. Especially since they retract into the rock when you get near.

I will be trying Kalk paste next, inject this near the aptaisia, I hear that they will then absorb the paste which will solidify and kill them. Note though that you may not be able to do many at a time since the kalk paste can also affect your water parameters.

Good luck,

Rob

[molybdenumman]

What is Kalk paste and how is it used?