LOTS of "anemone" Need ID

[sfoister]

I just inherited a 24 gallon aquapod that was neglected and I have the difficult job of restoring it. This tank is INFESTED with little brown anemone looking polyp things. I don't particularly like them, but I need to know what they are before I go touching them and yanking them off rock. Also, maybe a natural predator that I could put in a 24 gallon tank.
In the first one the creature I'm talking about is right in the middle of the picture.
The second picture shows a rock that is completely covered with the things.
Sorry for the horrible pictures. This tank has just been moved and is still very murky and stirred up. Not to mention the corraline all over the glass.

 

[reefreak29]

that anemone is aptasia its not something u want in your tank , if u just have a few there are several techniques to removing them
1. inject with calcium
2. squirting them with boiling ro water with a turkey baster
3. injecting them with a few drops of lemon juice
if u have a lot of them and your tank is set up for inverts a few peppermint shrimp will eat them

 

[rbaldino]

Peppermint shrimp also work well.

 

[sfoister]

The tank is freaking covered with them. It's like a bloody nightmare. I'm going to pick up several peppermints in the coming week.
Will peppermints eat all rock and aips? Also, are they quick at doing the deed or can I expect them to take several weeks to clear the tank of them?

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by sfoister
The tank is freaking covered with them. It's like a bloody nightmare. I'm going to pick up several peppermints in the coming week.
Will peppermints eat all rock and aips? Also, are they quick at doing the deed or can I expect them to take several weeks to clear the tank of them?
it took mine about 2 weeks to eat my aptasia

 

[sfoister]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
it took mine about 2 weeks to eat my aptasia

Some of these aiptasia are as big around as my thumb. I didn't know they could get that big. Will the peppermints still be able to eat even the large ones? It looks like this guy thought they were some kind of coral polyp or didn't know what they were and just let them thrive. The tank is a year old and this colony has been left to thrive that long.
Also, if I wear some latex surgical gloves and start yanking these things off the rock will I be at risk of being stung or releasing anything toxic into the water?

 

[jessica47421]

i believe they will spread more if you do that.

 

[sfoister]

Originally Posted by jessica47421
i believe they will spread more if you do that.
I have heard that, but if I pull the big ones off and they start to sprout, they will be smaller and more manageable for the shrimp to eat. At least that is my theory.

 

[sparky101]

Good luck, i'm currently battling aptasia as we speek.

I got a peppermint shrimp today and if he does a good job I will get him a friend.
As far as pulling them off, you can try. I tried that and as soon as you touch them they suck back into the rock. If nothing else works you may try taking a piece of rock with aptasia and soaking it in fresh r/o water for a couple hours, although this will kill anything else living in the rock.

 

[sfoister]

Originally Posted by sparky101
Good luck, i'm currently battling aptasia as we speek.

I got a peppermint shrimp today and if he does a good job I will get him a friend.
As far as pulling them off, you can try. I tried that and as soon as you touch them they suck back into the rock. If nothing else works you may try taking a piece of rock with aptasia and soaking it in fresh r/o water for a couple hours, although this will kill anything else living in the rock.
I got some stuff today that you inject into the center/mouth of them and it seems to work on the larger ones, but the smaller ones pull back into the rock or are just too small to inject anything into. Within 10 minutes though, the big ones that I injected were black and falling apart. This stuff makes a mess in the tank though and some of the white slime it generates has attached itself to a couple of my fish.
Keep me updated on your peppermint shrimp because that's my next step.

 

[uberlink]

I have three peppermints in my tank. They don't seem to do anything to the aiptaisia...although maybe it would be worse without them.

 

[sfoister]

I'm thinking about just taking that piece of rock out and letting it bake in the sun for a week, then pressure wash the bejesus out of it and put it back in. No need to cure something that's already dead. I would lose a lot of great corralline growth but it might be worth the loss.

 

[maxalmon]

Why not just tank that piece of LR out and drop joes juice onto where each anemone is? You could also use really hot, almost boiling water and inject into resting places. I would take each piece out, spot inject "whatever".

 

[sfoister]

I was going to take that rock out today and start chopping some of them off. I maybe what I'll do is drop some boiling water on the areas that are infested while it's out of the tank.

 

[althemean]

dont chop them off. breaking them into smaller pieces just allows them to grow more. I have four in my tank and threw in some peppermint shrimp, but that is sorta 50/50...I cant remember the name of a fish that eats them...the LFS had around 50 aipatisia and this fish devoured them.
Joes Juice is the other option for injecting them. (this is my next move if the shrimp dont work)

 

[sfoister]

Originally Posted by althemean
dont chop them off. breaking them into smaller pieces just allows them to grow more. I have four in my tank and threw in some peppermint shrimp, but that is sorta 50/50...I cant remember the name of a fish that eats them...the LFS had around 50 aipatisia and this fish devoured them.
Joes Juice is the other option for injecting them. (this is my next move if the shrimp dont work)
The fish you're talking about is a copper banded butterfly, but I'll be damned if I'm going to put a butterfly in my 24 gallon.
I'm just going to bite the bullet, say screw it and drop the whole rock in a put of hot water. There are so many of them it's going to be impossible for me to get rid of them all without just dropping a cruise missle on the rock.

 

[althemean]

you cant quarantine the rock and do it in a bucket? just throw some SW in there and joes juice them. It would be a shame to kill off the entire piece of rock.
you gotta do what you gotta do though...

 

[mie]

the stuff i use is heavier than water and all you do is turn off all pumps and power heads then place syringe over the aips and drop a few drops covering them it works awsome, but i think it is almost impossible to get them all, like the ones in the back of the tank goodluck

 

[sfoister]

I visited my LFS today, again, and talked to an older gentleman in there that is really the only guy I have come to trust 100%. I told him of my plans and he said he would try one thing before I nuked the rock. He told me if I did this and it didn't work, to come back in tomorrow and he would give me a store credit. Not one to turn down a bet, I listened anxiously.. this is what he told me.
Take the rock out, drop it in a bucket and drench the thing in lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes then rinse it in another bucket of salt water, when you're sure it's all rinsed off, scrub the rock with a hard bristled brush, then rinse again. Put it back in your tank and watch in amazement!
It worked! I stopped by the store and picked up a huge bottle of lemon juice and seriously, without exaggeration, I am 100% aiptasia free. None! I had hundreds! All gone in less than 15 minutes!
Tomorrow I'm going to go back and give HIM a store credit. I love that I have an LFS I can trust.