1000's of Rock Anemones

[dale-fish]

Problem
Ok I have been away for 8 months at University and my Dad is a busy man, this has led to (I kid you not) 1000's of rock anemones popping up in my dad's 90 gallon tank. Im quite aware there is no "quick fix" to this problem as I have tried many of them... Jo's juice, pepermint shrim, vinegar. These methods have killed some of them, the problem is there is just way to many... On some rocks there are possibly 50 or 60 of them. Is there any system I can implement to get rid of them. Perhaps put the whole LR piece in a bucket of vinegar and kill everything on the rock (including good bacteria) then placing them in a isolation tank and growing the good bateria then putting them back in the main tank. I will try pretty much anything.
Tank Specs
90 gallons
55 gallon sump
reverse osmosis water
300 watts PC lighting (roughly)
2 pumps for circulation (cant read name to many rock anemones covering them)
1 inch CC sand bed
running for 10 months
It's a shame because he has beautiful healthy live stock and tons of coraline growth. Any help would be very much appreciated! On a side note I spotted a 2 inch worm last night that looked evil so im gonna have to capture him too! Oh man so much work.
Thanks for any help!!!

 

[nm reef]

I'd sure be hesitant to trash the LR......maybe just stay after them with injections of joes juice/hot water/kalk paste...and several peppermints. I'd sure rather try all means availanle short of tearing up everything just to be rid of the pests.

 

[bonebrake]

Make sure that you are truly buying peppermint shrimp there is another species that looks remarkably similar to peppermints and they do not eat rock anemones and are often sold as peppermint shrimp when they really are not. My first suggestion, buy true peppermint shrimp. Secondly, since you have a 90 gallon you can support a copperband butterfly provided you have excellent water quality. These fish eat aiptasia, as well as all feather dusters, and some will pick at corals, but each individual is different. There are also other butterfly species that are more hardy than the copperband and will also eat aiptasia.
Whatever you do, do not resort to chemicals or killing the good with the bad on the live rock. You can be successful with natural means. I have read articles where a single copperband butterfly eliminated thousands of aiptasia in short time in massive systems. Let us know how you make out!

 

[dale-fish]

Thats interesting about the copperband I'll have to do some research on those... his tank is already heavily stocked so I might just have to convince him to take back one fish to our LFS. Since putting in 3 peppermint shrimp I have not seen any of them. They were tiny guys so I its gonna be hard for me to ID them.
One question when you inject jo's juice or hot water do you touch their center while injecting? To me this causes them to collapse, so I usually squirt it about a centimeter above the disk. Although I have done both. I wonder because sometimes they survive jo's juice. There knocked out for about a week but they survive.
Anyways thanks for the tips thus far and I will keep you posted and maybe post some pics.

 

[coachklm]

i use a syringe of boiling water just above them 1 full squirt per anemone and never seen them again. this can also get rid of clusters of them.
make sure your not buying the camelback shrimp....very similar just the hump on the back that gives them away.

 

[natep206]

get a nudi or 2 they will kill em in about 2 monthes then they will die cause of starvartion

 

[tank watch]

wont a dying anemone release toxins into the tank, killing almost everything?
I sell each rock with anemones to a lfs or several, or to individuals.

 

[travis89]

Originally Posted by tank watch
wont a dying anemone release toxins into the tank, killing almost everything?
I sell each rock with anemones to a lfs or several, or to individuals.
As far as I know rock anenomies don't just the good ones like bubble tips, but I'm not positive.

 

[lubeck]

I got some peppermints from this site I think in Januarary. I had aiptasia all over, in the thousands, I just noticed the other day nearly ALL the aiptaisa is gone. I have not noticed any at all. I have two peppermints so they took about 4 months to take care of the problem. hope this helps

 

[scotts]

I would recommend the peppermints also. They can get in your rocks and get rid of the aiptasia (sp?) that you do not see. But you do need to be careful. One of mine to go after my mushrooms when the aiptasia was gone. But then I got lucky because he was fairly easy to catch and is now in my sump.
Scott

 

[coachklm]

Originally Posted by tank watch
wont a dying anemone release toxins into the tank, killing almost everything?
I sell each rock with anemones to a lfs or several, or to individuals.
id be more worried about the toxins from the dying nudibrach(they can decimate tanks.) not aipstatia

 

[blitz99]

Originally Posted by coachKLM
id be more worried about the toxins from the dying nudibrach(they can decimate tanks.) not aipstatia
right on... talk about killing a tank.

 

[blitz99]

also, nudi's can have such specific diets you need to make sure you get the exact match or that will starve without touching an aptaisa.

 

[dischirm]

Berghia eats aptasia and only aptasia(SP?)
You can get one, but when your anemones are gone, the Berghia will starve.